Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Douglas, James (1617-1645)
DOUGLAS, Lord JAMES or WILLIAM (1617–1645), military commander, was the second son of William, eleventh earl of Angus and first marquis of Douglas [q.v.], by his first wife, Margaret Hamilton, daughter of Claud, lord Paisley. While still very young he went to France, and took service for Louis XIII in the Scots brigade, under the command of Sir James Hepburn. On the death of the latter, in 1637, Douglas, though not yet twenty-one, was appointed to the command of the regiment, which then first became known by the name of Douglas. His valour in action and strategic talent led to his being highly esteemed among the generals of France. He took part in the battle of Lenz, in which nine of his officers were killed or wounded round him. In a skirmish between Douai and Arras, 21 Oct. 1645, he received a fatal wound. His body was taken to Paris, and there buried in the Abbaye of St. Germain, in the chapel of St. Christopher, where the remains of his grandfather, William, tenth earl of Angus [q. v.], had been placed. In 1688 a monument of black marble was raised to his memory, on which he is represented lying on his side and looking towards the altar, and two long epitaphs in Latin, extolling his merits as a man and a soldier, were engraved on it. These inscriptions are printed at length in the 'Scots Magazine,' xxix. 119, where, however, the date of death is wrongly printed 1655. On his monument, and by most writers who have had occasion to mention Douglas, his Christian name is given as James. James Grant, however (Memoirs and Adventures of Sir James Hepburn, p. 263), speaks of him as being called William. Two of his half-brothers were named William and James respectively.
[Douglas and Wood's Peerage of Scotland, i. 441; Michel's Les Ecossais en France, ii. 316; De Boui Hart's Histoire de 1'Abbaye Koyale de St. Germain, pp. 319, 320; Daniel's Histoire de la Milice Franchise, ii. 411.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.101
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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