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James Duff, 2nd Earl Fife (29 September 1729 – 1809) was a Scottish aristocrat and Member of Parliament.


Heritage

James Duff was second son of
William Duff, 1st Earl Fife William Duff, 1st Earl Fife (1697 – 30 September 1763), of Braco, Perth and Kinross, Braco, Banff, was a Scottish landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons from 1727 to 1734. Early life Du ...
, and Jean Grant (daughter of Sir James Grant of Pluscardine, Baron of Luss and Grant), his father's second wife. His father, son of William Duff of Dipple, co. Banff, was M.P. for Banffshire 1727–34, was created Lord Braco in the peerage of Ireland 28 July 1735, and was advanced to the dignity of Earl of Fife and Viscount Macduff, also in the peerage of Ireland, by patent dated 26 April 1759, on proving his descent from Macduff, Earl of Fife..


Politics

In 1754, he became Member of Parliament for Banffshire, was re-elected in 1761, 1768, 1774, and 1780, and in 1784 elected to represent Elginshire until 1790. He gave the Banff town of Macduff its name, having changed it by Crown Charter from Doune in 1783. He extended the town and built a harbour at a cost of £5,000 ensuring economic prosperity. Duff was one of the most powerful and influential men in Aberdeenshire, Banffshire and Morayshire due to his massive estate. Due to his political commitments in Westminster, the running of the Estate was largely left to his factors - in particular William Rose of Ballivant. For his service to Duff, Rose was awarded many political favours. First, Duff gave Rose a vote in three different constituencies (Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, Morayshire), he appointed him the first Provost of Macduff, and latterly the Sheriff Clerk of Banffshire. He was created a British peer by the title of Baron Fife, 19 February 1790. He held the appointment of lord-lieutenant of county Banff.


Estates

He succeeded his father in the title and estates in September 1763, and devoted himself to the improvement of the property, which he largely increased by the purchase of land in the north of Scotland. He was twice awarded the gold medal of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, for his plantations, with which he covered fourteen thousand acres. He offered the farmers on his estate every inducement to cultivate their land on the most approved principles, and himself set the example by instituting near each of his seats a model farm, where agriculture and cattle-breeding were carried on under his personal supervision. In 1782 and 1783, when all crops failed, he allowed his highland tenants a reduction of twenty per cent. on their rents, and disposed of grain to the poor considerably below the market price, importing several cargoes from England, which he sold at a loss of £3,000. In 1787 he was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
.


Family

James Duff married on 5 June 1759, Lady Dorothea Sinclair, only child of Alexander Sinclair, 9th
Earl of Caithness Earl of Caithness is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of Scotland, and it has a very complex history. Its first grant, in the modern sense as to have been counted in strict lists of peerages, is now generally held to hav ...
, but he had no issue, and his British peerage became extinct on his death. He was succeeded in his Irish earldom by his next brother, Alexander. However he had three children by his mother's personal maid, Margaret Adam, of Keith, all of whom were born before his marriage to Sinclair. The eldest, James, became a general and a Member of Parliament.


Death

He died at his home, Fife House, Whitehall, London, on 24 January 1809, and was buried in the mausoleum at Duff House, Banffshire.


Notes


References

* ;Attribution * Endnotes: **Douglas and Wood's Peerage of Scotland, i. 578 ** Scots Magazine lxxi. 159 **Foster's Members of Parliament (Scotland). , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Fife, James Duff, 2nd Earl 1729 births 1809 deaths People from Macduff, Aberdeenshire Nobility from Aberdeenshire Peers of Great Britain created by George III Duff, James, 2nd Earl of Fife British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 Lord-lieutenants of Banffshire Fellows of the Royal Society James Duff family