Colonel Arthur Hay, 9th Marquess of Tweeddale, (9 November 1824 – 29 December 1878), known before 1862 as Lord Arthur Hay and between 1862 and 1876 as Viscount Walden, was a
Scottish soldier
A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer.
Etymology
The wo ...
and
ornithologist
Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...
.
Life

Lord Arthur Hay was born at
Yester House near
Gifford,
East Lothian
East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921.
In ...
, the son of General Sir
George Hay, 8th Marquess of Tweeddale
Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal George Hay, 8th Marquess of Tweeddale, (1 February 1787 – 10 October 1876), Hereditary Chamberlain of Dunfermline, was a British people, British soldier and administrator. He served as a staff off ...
and his wife, Lady Susan Montague. He was sent to university in both
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
and
Geneva
Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
.
Training in the military he received a commission in the British Army in 1841. He rose to be a Colonel in the
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards (GREN GDS) is the most senior infantry regiment of the British Army, being at the top of the Infantry Order of Precedence. It can trace its lineage back to 1656 when Lord Wentworth's Regiment was raised in Bruges to protect ...
. He served as a soldier in India and the Crimea. He succeeded his father in the
Marquessate in 1876.
Hay purchased a
lieutenancy in the
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards (GREN GDS) is the most senior infantry regiment of the British Army, being at the top of the Infantry Order of Precedence. It can trace its lineage back to 1656 when Lord Wentworth's Regiment was raised in Bruges to protect ...
in 1841. He purchased a
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
cy in 1846 and was promoted
lieutenant-colonel without purchase in 1854 and
Colonel
Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
in 1860. In 1866 he transferred to the
17th Lancers.
He was president of the
Zoological Society of London
The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...
from 16 January 1868.
He had a private collection of birds,
insects, reptiles and mammals and employed
Carl Bock to travel to
Maritime Southeast Asia
Maritime Southeast Asia comprises the Southeast Asian countries of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and East Timor.
The terms Island Southeast Asia and Insular Southeast Asia are sometimes given the same meaning as ...
and collect specimens. Tweeddale described about 40 species collected by Bock for the first time and was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
in 1871. The
holotype
A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...
specimen of the
Critically Endangered
An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...
and enigmatic
Malabar Civet was obtained by him and gave it to
Asiatic Society of Bengal
The Asiatic Society is an organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of " Oriental research" (in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions). It was founded by the philologist Will ...
in 1845.
His ornithological works were published privately in 1881 by his nephew, Captain
Robert George Wardlaw-Ramsay, with a memoir by Dr W. H. Russell, and the attribution Walden is used in taxonomic listings.
Lord Tweeddale died at Walden Cottage in
Chislehurst,
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
on 28 December 1878. As he had no issue, he was succeeded as Marquess of Tweeddale by his brother,
William
William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...
.
Family
He married twice: firstly in 1857 to Helene Kilmansegge (d.1871) and secondly in 1873 to Julia Mackenzie of Seaforth, daughter of Lt.-Colonel Keith William Stewart-Mackenzie (9 May 1818 – June 1881) and of Hannah Charlotte Hope Vere.
[Hannah Hope Vere was the daughter of James Joseph Hope Vere, MP, of Craigie Hall and Blackwood, ]Midlothian
Midlothian (; ) is registration county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh council ar ...
(and grandson of Charles Hope-Weir), and of Lady Elizabeth Hay, daughter of the 7th Marquess of Tweeddale. After Hay's death she married secondly
Sir John Rose, 1st Baronet; and thirdly after his death
William Evans-Gordon, MP. (All without issue).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tweeddale, Arthur Hay, 9th Marquess of
1824 births
1878 deaths
Nobility from East Lothian
9
Grenadier Guards officers
17th Lancers officers
Scottish soldiers
British Army personnel of the Crimean War
Scottish ornithologists
Hay, Arthur
Hay, Arthur
Hay, Arthur
Hay, Arthur
Scottish taxonomists