Francis Wemyss Charteris (21 October 172324 August 1808) was a Scottish landowner who claimed to be 7th Earl of Wemyss.

Life

Charteris was the second son of

James Wemyss, 5th Earl of Wemyss James Wemyss, 5th Earl of Wemyss (30 August 169921 March 1756) was the son of David Wemyss, 4th Earl of Wemyss. On 17 September 1720, he married Janet Charteris, heiress of the great Colonel Francis Charteris, and they had four children: * Dav ...

and his wife Janet, daughter of the very wealthy Colonel Francis Charteris. He was born with the name Francis Wemyss but on 24 February 1732, he legally changed it to Francis Wemyss Charteris, adopting his mother's maiden name on the inheritance of the estates of his maternal grandfather Colonel Charteris. In a

Haddingtonshire East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

Sasine registered on 8 August 1792, No.576, Francis Charteris, Earl of Wemyss was seised in the barony of Newmilns, or Amisfield, Haddingtonshire, plus half of the barony of

Morham Morham, East Lothian, sometimes spelt Moram, Morum, or Morhame in old records, is the smallest (agricultural) parish in Scotland, sandwiched between five other parishes: Haddington, Garvald, Yester, Whittingehame, and Prestonkirk, in the undula ...

and its lands, plus the grain mill of the monastery of Haddington called Abbey Mill. His elder brother David, Lord Elcho, was implicated in the

Jacobite rising , war = , image = Prince James Francis Edward Stuart by Louis Gabriel Blanchet.jpg , image_size = 150px , caption = James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766 , active ...

of 1745, and was attainted in 1746. He died childless in 1787 and Charteris would have succeeded as seventh Earl but for the attainder. However, he still assumed the title. In 1756 he commissioned

Isaac Ware Isaac Ware (1704—1766) was an English architect and translator of Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. Early life Ware was born to a life of poverty, living as a street urchin and working as a chimney sweep, until he was adopted by ...

to built the monumental

Amisfield House Amisfield House was a substantial Palladian mansion near Haddington, East Lothian. History Previously known as Newmills, under that name in the 17th century, the previous estate was the site of the murder of Sir James Stanfield, whose family ha ...

on the site purchased by his maternal grandmother, and named after her home estate of Amisfield. He further commissioned John Henderson to remodel the house in 1784, having purchased

Gosford House Gosford House is a neoclassical country house around northeast of Longniddry in East Lothian, Scotland, on the A198 Aberlady Road, in of parkland and coast. It is the family seat of the Charteris family, the Earls of Wemyss and March. It was t ...

in 1781 in which to reside during the construction works. When Amisfield House was ready for reoccupation Charteris commissioned

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...

to overhaul the entire design of Gosford House. Charteris died in August 1808, aged 84 and is buried in the Wemyss Mausoleum (a huge stone pyramid) near

, the estate he had acquired in 1781 or 1784 (depending on the source). The Earl is the only member of the family to be buried within the mausoleum. His grandson

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...

obtained a reversal of the attainder in 1826 and became the eighth Earl of Wemyss.

Family

On 12 September 1745, he married Lady Katherine Gordon, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Gordon. They had five children: *Frances Charteris (died 1848) who married Rev

William Trail William Trail or Traill FRSE MRIA (23 June 1746 – 3 February 1831) was a Scots-born mathematician, remembered for his mathematical text books. For the majority of his life, he served church duties in Northern Ireland. Life Sources are un ...

* Francis Wemyss Charteris, styled Lord Elcho (1749–1808) *Helen Charteris *Walpole Charteris *Anne Charteris

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wemyss, Francis Charteris, 7th Earl of 1723 births 1808 deaths 7