John Sholto, 9th Marquess of Queensberry

 

 

 

 

Born in 1844, John Sholto Douglas succeeded his father in 1858. He married Sibyl Montgomery, daughter of Alfred Montgomery, in 1866. They divorced in 1887. 

John Sholto remarried in 1893 to Ethel Weedon but the marriage was annulled one year later. He served in both the Royal Army and Navy and was representative peer for Scotland to the House of Lords from 1872 through 1880. 

He is probably best known for introducing, in 1865, the code of rules that governs modern boxing. He is also known for the libel suit brought against him, by writer Oscar Wilde, after the 9th Marquess publicly objected to the liaison between his son, Lord Alfred Douglas and Wilde. The suit, which was eventually dropped by Wilde, eventually led to the conviction of the writer for immoral conduct. 

The 9th Marquess' eldest son, Francis Archibald Douglas, Viscount Drumlanrig, predeceased him in 1894 having died in a suspicious hunting accident, so the titles passed to his 2nd son, Percy Sholto, upon the 9th Marquess' death in 1900.