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Douglas of Kirkness

 

There are two places named Kirkness, one in Orkney and one in Kinross.  Both have a Douglas family associated with the name. I am not sure that I have managed to distinguish between them. This may, in part, be due to errors in early historians confusing two of the sons of the 6th Earl, Archibald and George.

Sir George Douglas of Kirkness, d1609, 4th son of William, 6th earl of Morton, is,  the first Douglas of Kirkness, in Kinross.  He married (1597) Margaret Forrester, daughter of Thomas Forrester of Strathendry. 

Sir George's eldest son son was Archibald, born about 1600, died 1620, who married in 1625 , as her first husband,  Elizabeth Broun, daughter of Robert Broun of Finderlie and Balquharne and his wife Katherine Douglas (dau of John Douglas of Kinneston, cadet of Lochleven). Their only son, Sir William, k1650, succeeded him as 3rd of Kirkness (See below). 

Sir William was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir Robert, 4th of Kirkness, b 1684, married Jean Balfour, (see below*) daughter of John, 3rd Lord Balfour of Burleigh. His 2nd son was Sir William of Kinlassie. Sir Robert had two sons, William and Robert, both of whom died without issue, and so Sir William of Kinlassie inherited as 5th of Kirkness.

His son, Charles Aytoun Douglas of Kinlassie became 6th of Kirkness, married Christian Hepburn of Kinglassie (d 1788). Their 3rd son, Charles, was next to inherit, the 1st and 2nd sons having no male issue.

This Charles, (1727-1789) a Rear Admiral, was created a baronet for his services in the Royal Navy in Canada.

The Scots Baronetage states: "The last of this line is Major General William Douglas of Kirkness, who died in 1747." Actually, the title reverted to his uncle William, 5th of Kirkness.  According to Wikipedia, he was a brigadier-general, and married to Lady Anne Howard, daughter of Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle as her 2nd husband. (see below**)  It should be noted that his sister, Isabel, was retoured heir to him in 1754. From his other sister, Helen, who married Rev Robert Douglas, minister of Portmoak, descends the Douglas-Clephanes and the Marquis of Northampton.

It appears from the document reproduced below that the lands passed to the surviving daughters, Helen and Margaret and that Helen's daughter, Ann Jean Douglas acquired " the Superiority of the lands and Barony of Kirkness with the Priors Manse of Saint Servan within the Town of Kirkness " but this was subsequently lost, through debt, to the church.

The earliest Douglas of Kirkness, in Orkney, that I have been able to identify is Sir Archibald (b. abt 1600), son of Sir Archibald Douglas of Killour. This line apparently continues through Sir Howard Douglas, Bart, though I have no records of the use of 'of Kirkness' after Sir William, 1644-1683. However, although Sir Howard's line goes back to Sir Archibald, he has been described as being a 'lineal descendant of Sir George Douglas of Kirkness'.  Howard, therefore, would seem to be a grandson of Sir Charles, Bt, the 6th of Kirkness. Was there also a connection with Orkney?

Colonel Sir William Douglas, who had his own regiment, fell at Broxmouth, where there is a monument in his honour, following the disastrous Battle of Dunbar in 1650.  30 officers of the Douglas of Kirkness Regiment died that day, and countless soldiers. This is probably the same William Douglas who was required to supply an armed force from the county of Kinross under the terms of the 1649 'Act for putting the kingdom in a posture of defence'.

A Col William Douglas of Kirkness is mentioned in a Fife deed dated 8th Feb 1738.

A son of one of the Forresters of Carden married about 1496 the heiress of Strathenries of that ilk, and the estate continued in the name of Forrester till the reign of King Charles the Second, when a younger son of Douglas of Kirkness married the heiress, and got the lands. Note that George, 1st of Kirkness, married a Forrester of Strathendry.

In 1684, a charter was ratified in favour of Sir William Bruce of Kinross which makes mention of 'Robert Douglas of Strathhendry, Mr George and Elizabeth Douglas, children to late Sir William Douglas of Kirkness,' and 'with another charter granted by the principal and masters of St Leonards College of St Andrews, to the said Sir William Bruce and his foresaids, of the lands and barony of Kirkness, with the priories, manse and ward in the town of Kirkness and inch in Loch Leven, called St Serf's Inch, with the boat, fishings and others therein mentioned with the pertinents, lying within the sheriffdom of Fife,'.  We note above that sir William was succeeded by his eldest son, Robert who was born in 1684, and that Sir William was already dead. 

*Hon Jean Balfour was previously married to George Oliphant of Gask. Her sister, Hon Susan Balfour, married Robert Douglas of Strathendry.  Jean and Robert also had a daughter, Margaret, who married Adam Smith, whose son, Adam, was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economics.

Anna Maria, daughter of Robert Douglas, of Kirkness, (she d. on 21 January, 1844) married on 31 August, 1817 Andrew Clephane, baptised at Portmoak on 14 August, 1780, an Advocate and Sheriff of Fife. He was the son of George Clephane, of Carselogie, who married twice.

Death: 12 Feb 1773 - At her house in Kirkness, Mrs Margaret Douglas of Kirkness - Scots Magazine

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Spencer, the 2nd Marquess of Northampton married, on the 24th July, 1815, Margaret, eldest daughter of Major-General Douglas Maclean Clephane, of Torloisk, and had issue four sons and two daughters, all of whom survive him : 1. Charles, now Marquess of Northampton ; 2. Marianne-Margaret, Viscountess Alford, married in 1841, and lately left a widow; 3. Lord William Compton, Capt. R.N. who married m 1844 Eliza, third daughter of RearAdm. the Hon. George Elliot, C.B. and niece to the Earl of Minto, and has issue; 4. Lord Spencer Scott Compton, Capt. 15th Light Dragoons; 5. the Rev. Lord Alwyne Compton, who married in August ?1922 Florence-Caroline, eldest daughter of the late Rev. Robert Anderson, of Brighton, and niece to Lord Teignmouth; 6. Lady Margaret-Mary-Frances-Elizabeth, born at Rome in 1830, a few days before her mother's death.

Charles, the 3rd Marquess was born in 1816, and is unmarried. In 1831 he assumed, by royal sign manual, the name of Douglas before his own, as heir to his mother of the estate of Kirkness, to which she succeeded on the death of her paternal grandmother, Anna Jane Douglas, of Kirkness, who died in 1827.

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Decisions of the Court of Session, 1753, Feb. 2. Captain W. Douglas against Mrs Douglas.

Captain Douglas, as heir-male of Kirkness, pursues reduction of a settlement in 1722, made by the deceased Sir Robert Douglas in favours of heirs of line, and by the Major-General in 1711 in favours nominatim of this defender, founded on the original grant by the Earl of Morton to his second son, and heirs-male of his body, which failing, to return to the family ; and another charter in 1638 by the next Earl of Morton, to the grandson of the first granter, and heirs-male of his body, with the like clause of return, and an express prohibition not to do any thing in prejudice of the return, which proceeded on an onerous transaction, and a conveyance by the Earl of certain apprisings acquired by the Earl on Kirkness's predecessors debts.   The outcome, as far as I can determine, was that Kirkness did not revert to the Earl of Morton

Extract from "The College of St. Leonard: Being Documents with Translations, Notes and Historical Introductions"

KiRKNESS.

These lands were feued by St Leonards College to Sir
John Bruce of Kinross, who held the same, with the Prior's
Manse of St. Serf, for a yearly payment of ;f 60 Scots for the
Barony of Kirkness and £4 Scots for said Prior's Manse. The
Subjects were Sub-feued by Sir John Bruce to Douglas of
Kirkness.

By Disposition dated 25th February 1767, the Prindpal
and Masters of the United CoU^e of St Salvator and St
Leonard, who were then superiors of the subjects, in terms of
Act of Parliament passed in 1747, sold and disponed to Mrs.
Ann Jean Douglas, Spouse of George Clephane of Carslogie,
" the Superiority of the lands and Barony of Kirkness with
the Priors Manse of Saint Servan within the Town of Kirkness "
for the sum of ;£'225 Sterling, under reservation to the said
Prindpal and Masters and thdr successors in office of the
yearly payment of ;f 60 Scots, in place of the like sum being
the feuduty formerly payable to them for said Barony of
Kirkness, and the other annual payment of £4 Scots, in place
of the like sum being the feuduty formerly payable to them
for the Prior s Manse.

It was part of the agreement to seU said superiority that
over and above said reservation a permanent security by in-
feftment for an irredeemable annuity or yearly payment equal
to the foresaid two former feuduties should be granted to the
said Principal and Masters and their successors in office by the
proprietors of the lands, Barony and others, contained in the
said disposition. Mrs. Isabel Douglas, then the proprietor of
said lands and Barony of Kirkness, being incapable of granting
any security for the said yearly payments, Margaret Douglas
and Helen Douglas, both lawful daughters of the deceased Sir
Robert Douglas of Kirkness and the said Geoige Clephane,
by a formal obligation, dated 25 th and 27th February, 1767,
bound themselves, conjunctly and severally and their heirs,
executors and successors, to procure a permanent security by
infefhnent upon the land and others mentioned in the said
disposition from the proprietors thereof for payment to the
said Principal and Masters and their successors in office of
the said two annuities or yearly payments and to deliver that
security to the said Principal and Masters and their successors
in office, and in the meantime they bound and obliged them-
selves conjunctly and severally and their heirs, executors and
successors whatsoever, to make payment to the said Principal
and Masters and their successors in office or to their factor for
the time being of the said two annuities or yearly payments.

The teinds of the lands of Kinglassie and the Vicarage
teinds of Ryelaw, &c, have all been appropriated for augmenta-
tions of stipend to the Minister of the Parish of Portmoak.

 

**RICH, fifth Viscount Irvine, born 6, and baptized at
Horsham 23, January 1687-88 ; succeeded his eldest brother
18 May 1714. In 1715 he was appointed Governor of Hull
and Colonel of the Life Guards, and on 13 December 1717
Colonel of the 1st Dragoon Guards. In 1720 he was nomin-
ated Governor of Barbadoes, but as he was preparing for
his departure for that island he died 10, and was buried 17,
April 1721, in the Ormond vault in Henry vn.'s Chapel,
Westminster Abbey. Administration of his goods was
granted to his mother, P. C. C. 27 June 1721. He married,
soon after 21 November 1717, Anne, third daughter of
Charles (Howard), third Earl of Carlisle. She was appointed
in 1736 a Lady of the Bedchamber to the Princess of Wales
(mother of George in.), and for the rest of her life was a
prominent figure at Court. She was authoress of several
poems, and is noticed in Duncombe's Feminead. On 11 June
1737, contrary to the wishes of her relatives, she was married ,
secondly, at St. George's, Hanover Square, to Colonel (after-
wards Brigadier-General) William Douglas, a descendant of
the family of Douglas of Kirkness, cadets of the Earls of
Morton. He died while in command of the British forces
in South Beveland in 1747, and was buried in the chapel at
Kew. She died 2 December 1764, and by her will, dated 1
December 1762, with eleven codicils, proved 19 December
1764, she desired to be buried near her second husband at
Kew.

See also:

• Douglas of Carr

• Kirkness, Kinross