Regency Personalities Series-Francis Douglas 8th Earl of Wemyss

Regency Personalities Series

In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Francis Douglas 8th Earl of Wemyss 4th Earl of March

15 April 1772 – 28 June 1853

Francis Douglas 8th Earl of Wemyss 4th Earl of March was the son of Francis Wemyss Charteris, Lord Elcho (1749–1808), and the grandson of Francis Charteris, de jure 7th Earl of Wemyss. In 1810 he succeeded his second cousin twice removed William Douglas, 4th Duke of Queensberry and 3rd Earl of March to the Earldom of March, as the lineal heir male of the aforementioned Lady Anne Douglas, sister of the first Earl of March.

In 1821 he was created Baron Wemyss, of Wemyss in the County of Fife, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which entitled him to an automatic seat in the House of Lords. In 1826 he obtained a reversal of the attainder of the earldom of Wemyss and became the eighth Earl of Wemyss as well. From 1821 to 1853 he served as Lord-Lieutenant of Peeblesshire.

On 31 May 1794, he married Margaret Campbell and they had eight children:

Lady Charlotte Charteris (d. 1886)
Lady Louisa Antoinetta Charteris (d. 1854)
Lady Harriet Charteris (d. 1858)
Lady Eleanor Charteris (1796–1832), married Walter Frederick Campbell of Shawfield
Francis Wemyss-Charteris, 9th Earl of Wemyss (1796–1883)
Hon. Walter Charteris (1797–1818)
Lady Margaret Charteris (1800–1825)
Lady Katherine Charteris Wemyss (1801–1844), married her first cousin George Grey, 8th Baron Grey of Groby.