James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll (20 April 1726 – 3 June 1778 (Chester Courant, 16 June 1778)) styled Lord Boyd from 1728 to 1746, was a Scottish nobleman and the son of
William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock.
After his father was attainted in 1746, he became Mr James Boyd, but in 1758 he inherited the Earldom of Erroll from his great-aunt
Mary Hay, 14th Countess of Erroll.
Early life
He was born James Boyd at
Falkirk
Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...
on 20 April 1726, the eldest son of
William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock, and his wife Lady Anne Livingston. She was the only daughter of
James Livingston, 5th Earl of Linlithgow, a Jacobite attainted for his role in the
1715 Rising, and Lady Margaret Hay, the second daughter of
John Hay, 12th Earl of Erroll.
From 1728 to 1746, Erroll was known by the courtesy title of ''Lord Boyd'', while his father was
Earl of Kilmarnock.
Career
During the
1745 Jacobite Rebellion his father sided with the
Young Pretender
Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (31 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, making him the grandson of James VII and II, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, ...
, despite both of his sons, James and William Boyd, then holding commissions under
King George II; James Boyd in the British army, his brother in the Royal Navy. Remaining loyal to the
Hanoverians
The House of Hanover ( ) is a European royal house with roots tracing back to the 17th century. Its members, known as Hanoverians, ruled Hanover, Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Empire at various times during the 17th to 20th centurie ...
, James Boyd fought at the
Battle of Culloden
The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, thereby endi ...
on the opposite side to his father.
During the rout following the
Jacobite defeat, the Earl of Kilmarnock was captured and taken prisoner, dishevelled and bareheaded, and was reportedly recognised by his son James, who placed his own hat on his father's head.
This was the last time they were to meet, as Kilmarnock was then transported to
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, tried for
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...
, and executed four months later; forfeiting all his lands and titles, which deprived his son of his inheritance.
In 1751, however, although the Earldom remained forfeit, James Boyd was allowed to inherit the Kilmarnock estates. These included
Dean Castle, the former family seat which had been gutted by a fire in 1735. Trying to cover some of his father's debts, which he had also inherited, James Boyd sold the ruined castle to the
13th Earl of Glencairn. From 1751 to 1752, he served as
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.
Later life
On 19 August 1758, James Boyd succeeded his maternal great-aunt, Mary Hay, 14th Countess of Erroll, as
Earl of Erroll, simultaneously changing his surname from Boyd to Hay, as he and his descendants were henceforth to be known. Along with the title Earl of Erroll, he also held the ceremonial hereditary office of
Lord High Constable of Scotland.
Between 1770 and 1774, he served as a
Tory
A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...
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 unicameral Parliament of Scotland, where all Scottish Peers had been entit ...
in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
, and from 1770 to 1778, he was Lord of Police for Scotland.
Personal life
On 15 September 1749, he married Rebecca Lockhart, the daughter of
Alexander Lockhart, Lord Covington. Before her death in 1761, they were the parents of one daughter:
* Lady Mary Hay (b. 1754), who married Gen.
John Scott of Balcomie in 1770, divorced in 1771.
In 1762, he married Isabella Carr (1747–1808), daughter of Sir William Carr of
Etal,
Northumberland
Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...
. Together, they were the parents of twelve children, including:
* Lady Charlotte Hay (1763–1800), who married Rev.
William Holwell, Vicar of Menheniot, in 1797.
* Lady Isabella Anne Hay (1765–1793)
*
Lady Augusta Hay (1766–1822), who married
George Boyle, 4th Earl of Glasgow
George Boyle, 4th Earl of Glasgow, GCH FRS (26 March 1766 – 6 July 1843), styled Lord Boyle until 1775, was a British peer.
He was the son of John Boyle, 3rd Earl of Glasgow, and his wife, Elizabeth, the daughter of George Ross, 13th Lord ...
.
*
George Hay, 16th Earl of Erroll (1767–1798), who married Elizabeth Jemima Blake, the sister of
Joseph Blake, 1st Baron Wallscourt.
* Lady Harriet Jane Hay (1768–1812)
* Lady Margaret Hay (1769–1832), who married
Charles Cameron in 1789.
* Lady Maria Elizabeth Hay (1771–1804), who married Rev. George Moore, Rector of Wrotham, eldest son of Most. Rev.
John Moore,
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
, in 1795.
*
William Hay, 17th Earl of Erroll (1772–1819), who married three times and had eleven children.
* Lady Frances Hay (1773–1806)
* Lady Flaminia Hay (1774–1821), who married Capt. George James in 1809.
* Lady Jemima Hay (1776–1822)
* Hon. James Hay (d. 1797)
Lord Erroll died on 3 June 1778 at
Callendar House, aged fifty-two, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
George.
His widow died 3 November 1808.
Descendants
Lord Erroll's grandson,
William Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll
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, and h ...
, was created
Baron Kilmarnock 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 in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great B ...
in 1831.
Ancestry
External links
Footnotes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erroll, James Hay, 15th Earl of
1726 births
1778 deaths
Nobility from Falkirk (council area)
15
Rectors of the University of Glasgow
Scottish representative peers