Francis Wemyss Charteris (21 October 172324 August 1808) was a Scottish landowner who claimed to be 7th Earl of Wemyss.

Life

Charteris was the 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. In Edinburgh Wemyss lived in Riddles Court off the Royal Mile which retains much of its 17th century interior.Grant's Old and New E ...

and his wife Janet, daughter of the very wealthy Colonel Francis Charteris. He was born with the name Francis Wemyss but on 24 February 1732, he legally changed it to Francis Wemyss Charteris, adopting his mother's maiden name on the inheritance of the estates of his maternal grandfather Colonel Charteris. In a

Haddingtonshire East Lothian (; ; ) 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 historic county was incorporated for loca ...

Sasine registered on 8 August 1792, No.576, Francis Charteris, Earl of Wemyss was seised in the barony of Newmilns, or Amisfield, Haddingtonshire, plus half of the barony of

Morham Morham, East Lothian, sometimes spelt Moram, Morum, or Morhame in old records, is the smallest (agricultural) parish in Scotland, sandwiched between five other parishes: Haddington, East Lothian, Haddington, Garvald, East Lothian, Garvald, Yester ...

and its lands, plus the grain mill of the monastery of Haddington called Abbey Mill. His elder brother David, Lord Elcho, was implicated in the

Jacobite rising Jacobitism was a political ideology advocating the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the British throne. When James II of England chose exile after the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, the Parliament of England ruled ...

of 1745, and was attainted in 1746. He died childless in 1787 and Charteris would have succeeded as seventh Earl but for the attainder. However, he still assumed the title. In 1756 he commissioned

Isaac Ware Isaac Ware (1704–1766) was an English architect and translator of Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. Early life Ware was born to a life of poverty, living as a street urchin and working as a chimney sweep, until he was adopted by ...

to build the monumental Amisfield House on the site purchased by his maternal grandmother, and named after her home estate of Amisfield. He further commissioned John Henderson to remodel the house in 1784, having purchased

Gosford House Gosford House is a neoclassical country house around northeast of Longniddry in East Lothian, Scotland, on the A198 Aberlady Road, in of parkland and coast. It is the family seat of the Charteris family, the Earls of Wemyss and March. It wa ...

in 1781 in which to reside during the construction works. When Amisfield House was ready for reoccupation Charteris commissioned

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...

to overhaul the entire design of Gosford House. Charteris died in August 1808, aged 84 and is buried in the Wemyss Mausoleum (a huge stone pyramid) near

, the estate he had acquired in 1781 or 1784 (depending on the source). The Earl is the only member of the family to be buried within the mausoleum. His grandson

Francis Francis may refer to: People and characters *Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church (2013–2025) *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) * Francis, a character played by YouTuber Boogie2 ...

obtained a reversal of the attainder in 1826 and became the eighth Earl of Wemyss.

Family

On 12 September 1745, he married Lady Katherine Gordon, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Gordon. They had five children: *Frances Charteris (died 1848) who married Rev

William Trail William Trail or Traill FRSE Royal Irish Academy, MRIA (23 June 1746 – 3 February 1831) was a Scots-born mathematician, remembered for his mathematical text books. For the majority of his life, he served church duties in Northern Ireland. L ...

* Francis Wemyss Charteris, styled Lord Elcho (1749–1808) *Helen Charteris *Walpole Charteris *Anne Charteris

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wemyss, Francis Charteris, 7th Earl of 1723 births 1808 deaths Nobility from Fife 18th-century Scottish landowners 19th-century Scottish landowners 7