Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Douglas, George (1636?-1692)
DOUGLAS, Lord GEORGE, Earl of Dumbarton (1636?–1692), second son of William, first marquis of Douglas, and Lady Mary Gordon, was born in or about 1636. Like two of his elder brothers-german, Lords Archibald and James Douglas, he took service under the French king Louis XIV in his Scottish regiment, of which, on the resignation of his brother Archibald, he was appointed colonel. This regiment was recalled to England about 1675 by Charles II, and embodied in the British army. On 9 March 1675 Charles II conferred on Lord George Douglas the title of Earl of Dumbarton, a nominal peerage, in the strict sense of the word, for his lordship did not at the time own an acre of land in Scotland. After the accession of James II (of England) he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Scottish army, and under his guidance the rising of the Earl of Argyll in 1685 was suppressed. At the revolution he elected to share the fortunes of his dethroned sovereign. He accompanied James II to the continent, and died at St. Germain-en-Laye 20 March 1692. His countess, a sister, it is said, of the Duchess of Northumberland, predeceased him at the same place about a year, and both were buried in the abbey of St. Germain-des-Prés in Paris. They left a son, George, second earl of Dumbarton, born in April 1687, who attained to high rank in the British army and also in diplomatic service, being ambassador to Russia in 1716. But he died without issue, and his title became extinct. During his father's lifetime the second earl bore the courtesy title of Lord Ettrick, in reference to which James, marquis of Douglas, remarked in a letter, ‘I doe believe he has nothing more in Ettrick than he has in Dumbarton, but only the title.’
[Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland; Bouillart's Hist. de l'Abbaye de Saint Germain-des-Prés; Fraser's Douglas Book.]