Clan Douglas

SCOTTISH CLANS - DOUGLAS


MOTTO NEVER BEHIND	CLAN TARTAN DOUGLAS TARTAN

The earliest recorded Douglas appears to be William of Douglas, who witnessed a charter by the Bishop of Glasgow to the monks of Kelso between 1175 and 1211. However it is not clear from whom he was descended. William Douglas, ‘The Hardy’ was governor of Berwick in 1296. He was taken prisoner when the town fell to the English in that year and was only released when he agreed to accept the claim of Edward I of England to be overlord of Scotland. He later joined Sir William Wallace in the struggle for Scottish Independence but he was again captured and died in England in 1302. His son ‘Good Sir James’, patriot and founder of the Black Douglases, was killed in battle in Spain carrying the heart of his lifelong friend, Robert the Bruce to the Holy Land, where the Bruce had requested it be buried. With Wallace and Bruce, he is considered to be one of Scotland’s greatest patriots. His nephew became the Earl of Douglas, and later the Earl of Mar, through marriage.

The Douglas clan has had many distinguished and important members such as Lady Margaret Douglas, daughter of the Earl of Angus and Princess Margaret Tudor, whose son, Lord Darnley married Mary, Queen of Scots and who was the father of Jamie the Saxt. The Douglas family, one of the most powerful families of their time, has managed to remain relatively obscure regardless of its strength and wealth. The strength and wealth they possessed served as a constant threat to the Stewart Kings. This was the main reason for their title and estates being forfeited in 1455. The 8th Earl was stabbed to death by James II and three years later he accused the family of treason, resulting in the decimation of the clan. Thereafter, George, 4th Earl of Angus and chief of the Red Douglases, became chief of the entire clan.

The Douglases, in spite of their misfortune, continued to play a role in the life of Scotland throughout the centuries with many of their ancestors becoming earls and dukes. The senior representative of the clan was for some time Lord Home, ex-prime minister of Britain. The titles of Morton and Douglas passed to the Earls of Angus who became heirs to the Dukedom of Hamilton. These titles then passed to the seventh Duke of Hamilton, while the estates of the clan have passed down to Sir Alec Douglas-Hume, Earl of Hume.