William Duff, 1st Earl Fife (1697 – 30 September 1763), of Braco, Banff, was a Scottish landowner and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

from 1727 to 1734.

Early life

Duff was the eldest surviving son of William Duff, merchant, of Dipple and Braco, and his wife Jean Gordon, daughter of Sir George Gordon,

Shire Commissioner A commissioner was a legislator appointed or elected to represent a royal burgh or shire in the pre-Union Scottish Parliament and the associated Convention of the Estates. Member of Parliament (MP) and Deputy are equivalent terms in other ...

in the

Parliament of Scotland The Parliament of Scotland ( sco, Pairlament o Scotland; gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland from the 13th century until 1707. The parliament evolved during the early 13th century from the king's council o ...

, of Edinglassie, Aberdeen.The Complete Peerage (V. Gibbs & H. A. Doubleday (eds.), 1926) Vol. V, p. 376 In 1719 he married Lady Janet Forbes, widow of Hugh Forbes, Younger of Craigievar, and second daughter of James Ogilvy, Earl of Findlater. She died in 1720 and in 1723 he married Jean Grant, second daughter of

Sir James Grant, 6th Baronet Sir James Grant, 6th Baronet (28 July 1679 – 16 January 1747) was a Scottish Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons for 25 years from 1722 to 1747. He was Chief of Clan Grant from 1719 until his death. Early life Grant was the third, ...

, of Pluscardine. He inherited substantial estates from his father on his death in 1722.

Career

Duff was returned unopposed as

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 o ...

for

Banffshire Banffshire ; sco, Coontie o Banffshire; gd, Siorrachd Bhanbh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. It borders the Mora ...

at the

1727 British general election The 1727 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election was trig ...

. He spoke and voted against the Government on the Hessians in 1730 and also voted against the Administration on the repeal of the Septennial Act in 1734. At the

1734 British general election The 1734 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Robert Walpole's incr ...

, he stood down in favour of his brother-in-law James Abercromby. Abercrombie was a government supporter, and as a reward, Duff was created Lord Braco of Kilbryde in the

Peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

on 28 July 1735. He continued to dominate the political scene at Banffshire. In 1740, he commissioned the construction of

Duff House Duff House is a Georgian estate house in Banff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland, it is part of the National Galleries of Scotland and is a Category A listed building. The house is built of ashlar in t ...

in Banff. He was later created Earl Fife and Viscount Macduff, also in the peerage of Ireland, by letters patent dated 26 April 1759, after proving his descent from the MacDuffs,

Earls of Fife The Earl of Fife or Mormaer of Fife was the ruler of the province of Fife in medieval Scotland, which encompassed the modern counties of Fife and Kinross. Due to their royal ancestry, the earls of Fife were the highest ranking nobles in the r ...

Death and legacy

Lord Fife died on 30 September 1763, and was buried in the parish church of

Grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery Geography Australia * Grange, South Austr ...

, before being moved to the mausoleum at Duff House. By his second wife Jean he had five sons and six daughters. The eldest, James, succeeded his father as Earl. On his death without issue in 1809, he was succeeded by his younger brother

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

. Another son,

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

, became a member of Parliament.

References

Macduff baronage
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Fife, William Duff, 1st Earl Fife 1696 births 1763 deaths Peers of Ireland created by George II Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies Earls Fife