William George Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll, KT, GCH, PC (21 February 1801 – 19 April 1846), styled Lord Hay between 1815 and 1819, was a Scottish peer and politician.

Early life

Erroll was the son of

William Hay, 17th Earl of Erroll William Hay, 17th Earl of Erroll (12 March 1772 – 26 January 1819), known as Lord Hay until 1778, was a Scottish peer. Early life Erroll was the son of James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll and his second wife, Isabella Carr, the eldest daughter and ...

, and his wife Alice (''née'' Eliot). His paternal grandfather was

James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll (20 April 1726 – 3 July 1778) styled Lord Boyd from 1728 to 1746, was a Scottish nobleman and the son of William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock. Early life He was born James Boyd at Falkirk on 20 April 1726. James ...

, son of

William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock (12 May 170518 August 1746), was a Scottish peer who joined the 1745 Jacobite Rising, was captured at Culloden and subsequently executed for treason on Tower Hill. His family were supporters of the governmen ...

(who was attainted with his titles forfeited in 1746). He became heir apparent to the earldom in 1815 on the death of his elder brother, Lord Hay, who was killed during the

Waterloo Campaign The Waterloo campaign (15 June – 8 July 1815) was fought between the French Army of the North (France), Army of the North and two Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied army and a Prussian army. Initially the French army was commanded by ...

. He was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

Career

Erroll succeeded his father in the earldom in 1819, aged 18. In 1823 he was elected a

Scottish Representative Peer This is a list of representative peers elected from the Peerage of Scotland to sit in the House of Lords after the Acts of Union 1707 abolished the Parliament of Scotland, where, as a unicameral legislature, all Scottish P ...

and took his seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

. He was

Master of the Horse Master of the Horse is an official position in several European nations. It was more common when most countries in Europe were monarchies, and is of varying prominence today. (Ancient Rome) The original Master of the Horse ( la, Magister Equitu ...

Queen Adelaide , house = Saxe-Meiningen , father = Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen , mother = Princess Louise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg , birth_date = , birth_place = Meiningen, Saxe-Meiningen, Holy Rom ...

from 1830 to 1834. In 1831 he was sworn of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

and created Baron Kilmarnock, of

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

in the

County of Ayr Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of R ...

, in the

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the ...

, a revival of the Kilmarnock title held by his great-grandfather. When the Whigs came to power under

Lord Melbourne William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 177924 November 1848), in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). His first pre ...

in 1835, Erroll was appointed

Master of the Buckhounds The Master of the Buckhounds (or Master of the Hounds) was an officer in the Master of the Horse's department of the British Royal Household. The holder was also His/Her Majesty's Representative at Ascot. The role was to oversee a hunting pack; a ...

. In 1839 he was promoted to

Lord Steward of the Household The Lord Steward or Lord Steward of the Household is an official of the Royal Household in England. He is always a peer. Until 1924, he was always a member of the Government. Until 1782, the office was one of considerable political importance ...

on the decease of the

Duke of Argyll Duke of Argyll ( gd, Diùc Earraghàidheil) is a title created in the peerage of Scotland in 1701 and in the peerage of the United Kingdom in 1892. The earls, marquesses, and dukes of Argyll were for several centuries among the most powerful ...

, a post he held until the administration fell in 1841. Apart from his political career Lord Erroll was also

Knight Marischal The office of Knight Marischal was first created for the Scottish coronation of Charles I in 1633, at Scone. Unlike the separate office of Marischal, the office of Knight Marischal is not heritable, and has continued to be filled up to the deat ...

of Scotland from 1832 to 1846, and

Lord-Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire The Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, is the British monarch's personal representative in an area consisting of the county of Aberdeen as it existed immediately prior to abolition for local government purposes by the Local Government (Scotland) Ac ...

from 1836 to 1846.

Personal life

Lord Erroll married Lady Elizabeth FitzClarence, the illegitimate daughter of King

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

and Dorothy Jordan, on 4 December 1820. They were the parents of four children: * Lady Ida Harriet Augusta Hay (1821–1867), who was one of the Queen's bridesmaids and who married Charles Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough. *

William Harry Hay, 19th Earl of Erroll William Harry Hay, 19th Earl of Erroll (3 May 1823 – 3 December 1891), styled Lord Hay between 1823 and 1831, and Lord Kilmarnock from 1831 to 1846, was a Scottish peer. Early life William Harry Hay was born on 3 May 1823. He was the only son ...

(1823–1891), married Eliza Amelia Gore, the eldest daughter of Sir

Charles Stephen Gore General Sir Charles Stephen Gore (26 December 1793 – 4 September 1869), also styled as the Honorable Charles Gore, was a British general. Early life Gore was a son of Arthur Gore, 2nd Earl of Arran and, his third wife, the former Elizabet ...

(the third son, by his second wife, of the 2nd Earl of Arran) in 1848. * Lady Agnes Georgiana Elizabeth Hay (1829–1869), who married

James Duff, 5th Earl Fife James Duff, 5th Earl Fife, (6 July 1814 – 7 August 1879) was a Scottish nobleman. Early life Duff was the son of Sir Alexander Duff, younger brother of James Duff, 4th Earl Fife, and Anne Stein, the daughter of James Stein of Kilbagie and K ...

on 16 March 1846. Their son,

Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife Alexander William George Duff, 1st Duke of Fife, (10 November 1849 – 29 January 1912) styled Viscount Macduff between 1857 and 1879 and known as the Earl Fife between 1879 and 1889, was a British peer who married Princess Louise, the third c ...

, married Princess Louise, daughter of

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

. * Lady Alice Mary Emily Hay (1835–1881), who married Charles Edward Louis Casimir Stuart (1824–1882), nephew of fraud John Sobieski Stuart. Lord Erroll died in London in April 1846, aged 45, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

. The Countess of Erroll died in January 1856, aged 54.

Ancestry

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Erroll, William Hay, 18th Earl Of 1801 births 1846 deaths People educated at Eton College 18 Knights of the Thistle Lord-Lieutenants of Aberdeenshire Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Scottish representative peers Masters of the Buckhounds Residents of Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park Peers of the United Kingdom created by William IV