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Lord William Douglas

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Lord
William Douglas
Lord William Robert Keith Douglas, circa 1855
Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty
In office
2 May 1827
In office
16 February 1824
In office
8 February 1822
Member of Parliament
In office
1812–1832
MonarchsGeorge III
George IV
William IV
Prime MinisterEarl of Liverpool
George Canning
The Viscount Goderich
The Duke of Wellington
The Earl Grey
Preceded bySir John Heron-Maxwell
Succeeded byMatthew Sharpe
ConstituencyDumfries Burghs
Personal details
Born
William Robert Keith Douglas

(1783-03-06)6 March 1783
Died5 December 1859(1859-12-05) (aged 76)
Resting placeDunino, Fife
Spouse
Elizabeth Irvine
​
(m. 1824)​
ChildrenWilliam Douglas-Irvine
Walter Douglas-Irvine
Charles Irvine Douglas
Parents
Relatives6th Marquess of Queensberry (brother)
7th Marquess of Queensberry (brother)
AwardsFellow of the Royal Society (1826)

Lord William Robert Keith Douglas (6 March 1783 – 5 December 1859) was a Scottish politician and landowner. He was the fourth son of Sir William Douglas, 4th Baronet of Kelhead and younger brother of both Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry and John Douglas, 7th Marquess of Queensberry. He represented the Dumfries Burghs constituency between 1812 and 1832 and served, on a number of occasions, as one of the Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty. He owned sugar plantation estates in Tobago which had formerly belonged to Walter Irvine, whose daughter, Elizabeth, he married on 24 November 1824. They had three sons, the second of which, Walter, went on to continue the Douglases of Grangemuir. He employed the future missionary Catherine Grant (later Edward) as a governess until 1843.[1]

On 9 March 1826 he was elected as fellow of the Royal Society.

According to the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership at the University College London, Douglas was awarded a payment in the aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 with the Slave Compensation Act 1837. The British Government took out a £15 million loan (worth £1.8 billion in 2024[2]) with interest from Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore that was subsequently paid off by the British taxpayers (ending in 2015). Douglas was associated with three different claims he owned 576 slaves in Tobago and received a £10,907 payment at the time (worth £1.31 million in 2024[2]).[3]

In May 1837, some time after William Douglas's eldest brother succeeded to the Marquessate of Queensberry, he was granted a patent of precedence which gave him the rank and style of a Marquess's younger son (Lord William Douglas).[4]

Lord William is buried at Dunino, Fife, a village close to his family seat at Grangemuir, near Pittenweem.[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49147 https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/49147, retrieved 26 June 2021 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ^ a b UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  3. ^ "William Robert Keith Douglas". University College London. Retrieved on 20 March 2019.
  4. ^ Burke's Peerage
  5. ^ Lewis, Samuel (1846). "'Andrew's, St - Arbroath', in A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland". London: British History Online. pp. 45–59. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Dumfries Burghs
1812–1832 		Succeeded by


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