Douglas Cause

The Douglas Cause was a cause célèbre and legal struggle in Scotland during the 1760s. The main parties were Archibald Douglas (1748–1827) and James Douglas-Hamilton, 7th Duke of Hamilton (1755–1769). The affair gripped the nation, leading to death threats and rioting.

Archibald Douglas, 3rd Marquess and 1st Duke of Douglas (1694–1761) had been raised to the dukedom by Queen Anne in 1703 at the age of nine in order to secure the loyalty of the powerful Clan Douglas to her new regime. The duke was virtually illiterate and took no part in the affairs of the nation. He lived largely as a recluse and may have suffered from insanity.

The duke remained unmarried until late in life and had no issue. His sister Lady Jane Douglas (1698–1753) was his putative heir. In the event of her remaining childless, most of the duke’s fortune along with a string of titles and ancient honours would pass to his kinsmen, the Dukes of Hamilton, who were descended in the male line from William Douglas, 1st Marquess of Douglas.

Until 1748, all looked set fair for the Hamiltons. The duke was unmarried, and although in 1746 Lady Jane had secretly married the unsuitable Colonel John Stewart, a penniless soldier of fortune, she was by then aged 48, and Colonel Stewart (described by the duke as a 'wore-out old rake')^{[citation needed]} was 60. The marriage seemed unlikely to produce children.

Following their marriage, Colonel and Lady Jane Stewart travelled to the Continent to escape their creditors under the assumed name of "Gray". Two years later in the summer of 1748, Lady Jane admitted the marriage and gave out that she was heavily pregnant. It was subsequently reported that on 10 July at the house of Madame Le Brun in Faubourg Saint-Germain in Paris, she had given birth to twin sons – Archibald and Sholto. Lady Jane was 50 years old.

Encouraged by the Hamiltons, the duke refused to recognise the boys as his sister’s children and his heirs. He cut off her allowance and when the couple returned to Britain in 1751, Stewart was imprisoned for debt. Lady Jane and her son Sholto both died in 1753, and the young Archibald ended up in the care of his kinsman, Charles Douglas, 3rd Duke of Queensberry, who saw to his education.

In 1758, to general astonishment, the Duke of Douglas, then aged 63, married Margaret Douglas, a middle-aged distant relative. The Duchess of Douglas made it the main business of her remaining lifetime to redress the wrong done to Lady Jane. She prevailed upon the duke to investigate the circumstances of the case for himself, which he did at much expense and pains. In the end he was satisfied, expressed passionate remorse and revoked the existing entail of his estates, settling them upon Archibald Stewart in July 1761. Ten days later, the duke died.

While the Dukedom of Douglas expired along with the duke, the Marquessate of Douglas and the ancient Earldom of Angus devolved upon his nearest heir male, the six-year old James Douglas-Hamilton, 7th Duke of Hamilton. However, the duke’s castles, properties and extensive lands in eight Scottish counties, passed to Archibald Stewart, then 13 years old. Stewart legally changed his surname to Douglas and duly entered into his inheritance, worth the remarkable sum of £12,000 per annum (the equivalent value of over £2.6 million in 2021).