George Douglas, 13th Earl of Morton (1662 – 4 January 1738), of

St Ola St Ola is a parish on Mainland, Orkney. It is in the centre of the island, east of the parish Firth and north of Holm. It contains the capital and largest town of the Orkney archipelago, Kirkwall. Both Kirkwall ( non, kirkjuvagr, church-bay) and ...

, Orkney, styled The Honourable George Douglas between 1681 and 1730, was a Scottish nobleman, soldier 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 1708 until he succeeded to a peerage in 1730.

Background

Douglas was a younger son of

James Douglas, 10th Earl of Morton James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

, and Anne, daughter of Sir James Hay, 1st Baronet. He became a professional soldier in various Scottish regiments but was made redundant in 1707 following the Union of England and Scotland.

Political career

Douglas was elected 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 Lanark Burghs, also known as Linlithgow Burgs, in 1708 and was returned there unopposed in 1710. In

1713 Events January–March * January 17 – Tuscarora War: Colonel James Moore leads the Carolina militia out of Albemarle County, North Carolina, in a second offensive against the Tuscarora. Heavy snows force the troops to take ref ...

he was elected MP for Orkney and Shetland. He was returned as MP for Lanark Burgs in

1715 Events For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire i ...

when he was unopposed, but in the 1722 general election he was defeated there in a contest. However at the same general election he was also returned unopposed at Orkney where he was returned again in

1727 Events January–March * January 1 – (December 21, 1726 O.S.) Spain's ambassador to Great Britain demands that the British return Gibraltar after accusing Britain of violating the terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Britain ...

. He surrendered his seat in 1730 when he succeeded his elder brother in the earldom and 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 ...

, which he remained until his death. He also served as Vice-Admiral of Scotland from 1733 to 1738.Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.

Family

Lord Morton married Frances Adderley. He died in January 1738 and was succeeded in his titles by his son,

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morton, George Douglas, 13th Earl of 1662 births 1738 deaths Earls of Morton Scottish soldiers Scottish representative peers Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies Politics of South Lanarkshire Politics of Orkney Politics of Shetland 17th-century Scottish people 18th-century Scottish people British MPs 1708–1710 British MPs 1710–1713 British MPs 1713–1715 British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734