James Douglas, 3rd Marquess of Queensberry (2 November 1697 – 24 January 1715), known until 1711 as James Douglas, Earl of Drumlanrig, was a Scottish nobleman, the second son, and eldest to survive infancy, of

James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry and 1st Duke of Dover (18 December 16626 July 1711) was a Scottish nobleman. Life He was the eldest son of William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry and his wife Isabel Douglas, daughter of William Douglas ...

. Stories describe him as an "

imbecile The term ''imbecile'' was once used by psychiatrists to denote a category of people with moderate to severe intellectual disability, as well as a type of criminal.Fernald, Walter E. (1912). ''The imbecile with criminal instincts.'' Fourth editi ...

" and violently insane. He was kept under lock and key from childhood at

Queensberry House Queensberry House is a building of 17th-century origin which is now a Category A listed building. It stands on the south side of the Canongate, Edinburgh, Scotland, incorporated into the Scottish Parliament complex on its north-west corner ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, now part of the Scottish Parliament complex. It is reported that when the Act of Union was signed in 1707, the disruption from either the festivities or the riots resulted in his escape. Drumlanrig, then around 10 years old, slaughtered a servant in the house's kitchen, roasting him alive on a spit, and began to eat him before he was discovered and apprehended. He was afterwards known as 'The Cannibalistic Idiot'. The oven that he used can be seen in a room in the basement of Queensberry House, which housed the Parliament's Allowances Office until 2012, when it became a private bar for MSPs and their guests. A ''

charter of novodamus A charter of novodamus, in Scottish feudal land law, is a fresh grant of lands to the grantee. It is usually granted to make some change in the incidents of tenure Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenur ...

'' (i.e., ''de novo damus'', "we grant anew"; a charter containing a clause by which a feudal superior re-bestows a former grant under a new set of conditions) had been made out for his father's titles, excepting the marquessate of Queensberry in 1706, to remove James Douglas from the succession. He died on 24 January 1715 and was buried on 17 February. The parish register for

Calverley Calverley is a village in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England, on the A657 road, about from Leeds city centre and from Bradford. The population of Calverley in 2011 was 4,328. It is part of the City of Leeds wa ...

, near Leeds, West Yorkshire, includes the burial record of "James Dowgles, Marquess of Drumlangrick" under the heading "burials at Calverley and Pudsey" but states that he died at "Woodall" and was buried in "Launsborow", which the 1887 transcriber interprets as "Woodhall" and

Londesborough Londesborough is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north of the market town of Market Weighton. The civil parish is formed by the village of Londesborough and the hamlet of Mid ...

respectively, stating that he "appears to have died at Woodhall under the care of Mr. Richardson". "Woodhall" might be in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

Wensleydale Wensleydale is the dale or upper valley of the River Ure on the east side of the Pennines, one of the Yorkshire Dales in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of only a few Yorkshire Dales not currently named after its principal river, but th ...

, or elsewhere, while Londesborough Hall was at that time owned by

Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork, (25 April 1694 – 4 December 1753) was a British architect and noble often called the "Apollo of the Arts" and the "Architect Earl". The son of the 2nd Earl of Burlington and 3rd Ea ...

, but is in the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

some distance from Calverley. His brother Charles Douglas, 3rd Duke of Queensberry succeeded him to the Marquessate.

References

Sources

* Maxwell, Sir Herbert, ''A History of the House of Douglas'' II vols. Freemantle, London, 1902.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Queensberry, James Douglas, 3rd Marquess of 1697 births 1715 deaths Scottish cannibals Royalty and nobility with disabilities Marquesses of Queensberry