Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Maule, James
MAULE, JAMES, fourth Earl of Panmure (1659?–1723), Jacobite, was the eldest son of George, second earl of Panmure, by Lady Jean Campbell, eldest daughter of John, earl of Loudoun. He succeeded to the earldom on the death of his brother George, third earl, 1 Feb. 1686, having previously been known as of Ballumbie, Forfarshire. In his early years he travelled on the continent, and in 1684 served as a volunteer at the siege of Luxemburg. After succeeding to the earldom, he was named a privy councillor by James II, but he opposed the policy of the king in favour of the catholics, and was consequently removed 10 March 1687. Nevertheless at the revolution he remained faithful to the king, even after the latter's flight to France. In January 1689 he went to London, and his father-in-law, the Duke of Hamilton, earnestly pressed him to join the Prince of Orange, but he declined to do so. At the convention of the estates at Edinburgh in March he opposed the recognition of William and Mary, and when the vote went against him, retired to his own house (Balcarres, Memoirs, p. 25), and henceforth ceased to attend the meetings of the estates.
Panmure was mentioned by the Duke of Perth to the Jacobite, Nathaniel Hooke [q. v.], 3 July 1705, as one to be relied on (Hooke, Correspondence, i. 229), and in a memoir given to MM. De Torcy and De Chamillart, at Fontainebleau, 17 Oct., is referred to as one of the richest men of Scotland, and wholly devoted to the king of England (ib. p. 404). The proposal for a union between Scotland and England, especially that part of the treaty which provided for the election of representative peers, was strongly distasteful to Panmure, and still further confirmed his Jacobite convictions. At the time of Hooke's second visit to Scotland in 1707, he is mentioned as one to whom the ‘king's’ letter was to be shown (ib. ii. 141), and the Pretender himself wrote him a private letter expressing his confidence in his loyalty (Registrum de Panmure, ii. 346).
On the outbreak of the rebellion in 1715 Panmure proclaimed James Francis Edward king at the Cross of Brechin and afterwards joined the forces of Mar with about five hundred men (Patten, History of the Rebellion, pt. ii. p. 95). At the battle of Sheriffmuir, on 31 Nov. his regiment formed part of the second line (ib. p. 53), and he was taken prisoner, but was rescued by his brother and his servants (ib. p. 60; Preface to Registrum de Panmure, vol. i. p. xlix). After the landing of the Pretender, Panmure entertained him on the way south at Brechin Castle, 9 Jan. 1716, and on the prince's flight in February escaped to the continent. By a letter dated from Avignon 8 April 1716, he received from the prince the order of the Thistle (ib. ii. 352). On 30 June he was attainted by parliament, and his estates confiscated. They were the most valuable of all the confiscated estates, their annual rental being 3,456l., and they were sold to the York Building Company for 60,400l.
Panmure twice declined the government's offer to restore his estates on his returning and taking the oath of allegiance to the house of Hanover. After travelling in Italy and elsewhere, he finally settled in Paris. In 1720 he paid a visit to the town of Maule in France, which enabled him to establish the connection of his family with the Maules and Valoniis of Normandy (‘Journal of a Journey by the Earl of Panmure, and Mr. James Maule, his nephew, from Paris to Maule in 1720,’ in Registrum de Panmure, vol. i. pp. civ–cx). He died at Paris 11 April 1723 (O.S.) By his wife, Lady Margaret Hamilton, daughter of William, third duke of Hamilton, he left no issue. In 1717 an act was passed by parliament to enable George I to make such provision and settlement upon his wife as she would have been entitled to had her husband been dead. She died 6 Dec. 1731. There is an engraving of Panmure in the ‘Registrum de Panmure,’ by Harry Maule [q. v.], from the original painting at Brechin Castle.
The bulk of the Panmure estates were purchased in 1764 from the York Building Company for 49,157l. 18s. 4d. by William Maule, son of Harry Maule of Kelly [q. v.], and nephew of the fourth Earl of Panmure, who on 6 April 1743 was created Earl of Panmure of Forth, and Viscount Maule of Whitchurch, in the peerage of Ireland. With his death, 1 Jan. 1782, this title also became extinct, but on 9 Sept. the title of Baron Panmure of Brechin and Navar was conferred on the Hon. William Ramsay, eldest son of the eighth earl of Dalhousie, who thereupon assumed the name and arms of Maule [see Maule, William Ramsay, first Lord Panmure].
[Registrum de Panmure, ed. Stuart, 1874; Jervise's Lands of the Lindsays; Jervise's Memorials of Angus Mearns; Balcarres's Memoirs (Bannatyne Club); Patten's History of the Rebellion; Hooke's Correspondence (Roxburghe Club); Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), ii. 355.]