Everything about James Maitland 8th Earl Of Lauderdale totally explained
James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale KT PC (
January 26 1759 -
September 10 1839), was a
representative peer for Scotland in the
House of Lords.
Early years
Born at
Haltoun House near
Ratho, the eldest son and heir of
James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale, whom he succeeded in 1789, he became a controversial
Scottish politician and writer. His tutor had been the learned Dr. Andrew Dalzel, and James Maitland then attended the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, completing his education in
Paris where, it's said, he became radicalised.
Parliamentary career
Upon his return home in 1780 he was admitted a member of the
Faculty of Advocates and successfully stood for election to parliament the same year. From
1780 until
1784 he was a
Member of Parliament representing
Newport and from 1784 to 1789,
Malmesbury. In the
House of Commons he supported Fox and took an active part in debate, and was one of the managers of the
impeachment of
Warren Hastings.
From 1789, in the
House of Lords, where he was a
representative peer for Scotland, he was prominent as an opponent of the policy of
Pitt and the English government with regard to
France. He was a frequent speaker and also distinguished himself by his active opposition to the
Habeas Corpus Suspension Act., the Sedition Bill, and other measures. Upon the outbreak of the French Revolution, of which he was thought to be in sympathy, he ostentatiously appeared in The House in the rough costume of Jacobinism.
In
1792 in the company of
John Moore, Lord Lauderdale travelled again to France. The attack on the
Tulleries, and the imprisonment of King
Louis XVI of France, took place three days after the earl's arrival in the French capital. After the massacres of the 2nd September, the British ambassador having left Paris, the earl left Paris on the 4th for
Calais. However, he returned to Paris the following month and didn't leave for London until December 5th. Upon his return from France he published a
Journal during the residence in France from the beginning of August to the middle of December 1792. According to the
antiquarian A. Thomson, F.S.A.,(Scot): "James Maitland 8th Earl of Lauderdale was known as 'Citizen Maitland'. An extremist, he was in
Paris during the
French Revolution and was a personal friend of
Jean-Paul Marat. He rarely visited Scotland." The earl had helped to found the British
Society of the Friends of the People in
1792.
New peerage
Upon the formation of the Grenville administration in February
1806, Lauderdale was made a
peer of the United Kingdom as
Baron Lauderdale of Thirlestane and sworn a member of the
Privy Council. For a short time from July 1806 he was keeper of the
Great Seal of Scotland.
Napoleonic treaty
On
August 2,
1806 the earl, fully fluent in French, departed for France, invested with full powers to conclude peace, the negotiations for which had been for several weeks carried on by the
Earl of Yarmouth. Arriving on the 5th he and Yarmouth set about the arduous task of treating with
Napoleon and
Tallyrand. Yarmouth was recalled on the 14th and Lauderdale was left alone. Following the renewal of hostilities he left Paris for London on October 9th. A full account of the progress and termination of the negotiations appeared in the
London Gazette of
October 21,
1806.
After acting as the leader of the
Whigs in Scotland, Lauderdale became a
Tory and voted against the
Reform Bill of 1832. Lord Lauderdale was made a
Privy Counsellor in 1806 and a
Knight of the Thistle in 1821.
Banner dispute
James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale matriculated arms in the character of Hereditary Standard Bearer of Scotland. In
1952 the
Lord Lyon decided that the Earl of Lauderdale's right was to bear the
saltire as
the Bearer of the National Flag of Scotland, whereas the
Earl of Dundee as
the Bearer of the Royal Banner bears the
Royal Standard of the lion rampant.
Writings
He wrote an
Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth (1804 and 1819), a work which has been translated into French and Italian and which produced a controversy between the author and
Lord Brougham;
The Depreciation of the Paper-currency of Great Britain Proved (1812); and other writings of a similar nature.
Death
He died at
Thirlestane Castle, near
Lauder,
Berwickshire, aged 80.
He married 15 August
1782, Eleanor (1762-1856), only daughter and heiress of Anthony Todd, Secretary to the General Post Office. They had nine children, of whom a daughter, Lady Julia Jane married, in 1823, Sir
John Warrender, Baronet (b.1786); of the boys (none of whom married), his heir and successor was
James Maitland, 9th Earl of Lauderdale (1784-1860) and another was Admiral Sir Anthony Maitland (1785-1863). Upon the death of the 9th Earl the Earldom had a new destination within the family, whilst the United Kingdom barony bestowed upon him became extinct.
Works
Further Information
Get more info on 'James Maitland 8th Earl Of Lauderdale'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://james_maitland__8th_earl_of_lauderdale.totallyexplained.com">James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
