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Brigadier-General Archibald (Douglas), 2nd
Earl of Forfar
Archibald Douglas, second earl of Forfar (1692–1715), army
officer, son of
Archibald Douglas, first
earl of Forfar (1653–1712), soldier and politician, and his second wife,
Robina Lockhart (d. 1741), was born on 25 May 1692. In his early
years he bore the courtesy title of Lord Wandell, and Queen Anne about 1704
granted him a yearly pension of £200 to assist his education. In 1712, on
the death of his father, he succeeded as second earl. In the following year,
though only twenty years of age, he was appointed colonel of the 3rd, or
Buff, regiment of infantry. In 1714 he petitioned Anne for payment of
arrears, both of his father's pension and his own, amounting together to
£1400; he pointed out at the same time that in her majesty's service he had
incurred a debt of about £3000. He was appointed envoy-extraordinary to
Prussia in 1715 (credentials dated 14 July) but never took up his post.
In 1715 Forfar served as a brigadier-general in the army raised by the
duke of Argyll for quelling the Jacobite rising in Scotland, and was present
on 13 November at the indecisive combat at
Sheriffmuir, where he fought bravely, but sustained wounds in 17 places
that were to prove fatal. He was taken prisoner to Stirling, and died, aged
23, there on 8 December. He was buried in Bothwell church, where a monument
was erected to his memory. As he died unmarried the title of earl of Forfar
became extinct, and his estates passed to
Archibald, first duke of Douglas.
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