Francis Wemyss Charteris, Lord Elcho (31 January 1749 – 20 January 1808) was a Scottish nobleman and

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Life

He was the only son of Francis Charteris, 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 ...

. The fifth Earl's eldest son

David Wemyss, Lord Elcho David Wemyss, Lord Elcho and ''de jure'' 6th Earl of Wemyss (12 August 172129 April 1787), was a Scottish peer and Jacobite, attainted for his part in the 1745 Rising and deprived of titles and estates. One of the few Jacobites excluded fro ...

had been

attainted In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary ...

for his part in the

Jacobite Rising of 1745 The Jacobite rising of 1745, also known as the Forty-five Rebellion or simply the '45 ( gd, Bliadhna Theàrlaich, , ), was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the Monarchy of Great Britain, British throne for his father, James Franci ...

so after the Earl's death in 1756 the earldom became forfeit. Charteris was elected to Parliament for the Haddington district of burghs in 1780. From 1784 he was in opposition to the government of

William Pitt the Younger William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...

. In 1787 Charteris' uncle Lord Elcho (who but for his attainder would have been 6th Earl of Wemyss) died. As Charteris' father had not been attainted himself, he assumed the title as 7th Earl of Wemyss, with Charteris himself assuming the subsidiary title Lord Elcho. At the time eldest sons of Scottish peers were not allowed to represent Scottish constituencies in Parliament, and after a debate on the matter Charteris had to vacate his seat. Although it was later established that the Earldom of Wemyss remained forfeit and his father was not after all a Scottish peer, Charteris did not attempt to re-enter Parliament. Charteris died on 20 January 1808 at

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 ...

East Lothian 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 ...

, and was interred at

St Mary's Collegiate Church, Haddington The Collegiate Church of St Mary the Virgin is a Church of Scotland parish church in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland. Building work on the church was started in 1380, and further building and rebuilding has taken place up to the present da ...

Marriage and issue

Francis Charteris married in 1771 Susan, daughter of

Anthony Keck Anthony Keck (1726–1797) was an 18th-century English architect with an extensive practice in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and South Wales. Life Keck was born at Randwick, Gloucestershire in 1726 He designed in the "austere ...

and granddaughter of

James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton Lieutenant General James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton and 1st Duke of Brandon (11 April 1658 – 15 November 1712) was a Scottish nobleman, soldier and politician. Hamilton was a major investor in the failed Darien Scheme, which cost many of ...

. They had one son and four daughters: *

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 ...

, who obtained a reversal of the attainder and became 8th Earl of Wemyss * Henrietta Charlotte Elizabeth, who married

George Harry Grey, 6th Earl of Stamford George Harry Booth-Grey, 6th Earl of Stamford and 2nd Earl of Warrington (31 October 1765 – 26 April 1845), styled Lord Grey from 1768 to 1819, was a British peer and parliamentarian. Booth-Grey was the eldest son of George Grey, 5th E ...

* Susan, who married Sir Henry Clinton * Katharine, who married

Edward Richard Stewart Edward Richard Stewart (5 May 1782 – 27 August 1851) was a Scottish Member of Parliament (MP) in the Parliament of the United Kingdom and a Commissioner of the Victualling Board from 1809 to 1813. and Paymaster and Inspector-General of the Marin ...

* Augusta, who married

Warner William Westenra, 2nd Baron Rossmore Warner William Westenra, 2nd Baron Rossmore (14 October 1765 – 10 August 1842), was an Anglo-Irish landowner and politician. Background and education Westenra was the son of Henry Westenra, Member of Parliament for County Monaghan, by Harri ...

. In 1818—after Francis Chateris's death—his widow Susan Chateris (by then the Dowager Lady Elcho) changed her surname to Tracy as a condition of inheriting her uncle Robert Tracy's estate, on the death of her elder sister.Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery, William Brown, p. 128

References

* Edith Lady Haden-Guest
CHARTERIS, Francis (1749-1808), of Amisfield, Haddington and Hornby, Lancs.
The

History of Parliament The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in w ...

. Accessed 24 November 2011. * Patrick Cracroft-Brennan
Wemyss, Earl of (S, 1633)
Cracroft's Peerage. Accessed 24 November 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Elcho, Francis Charteris, Lord 1749 births 1808 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 Heirs apparent who never acceded

British courtesy barons and lords of Parliament