DALKEITH 39 DALKEITH [This branch of the family of Douglas who " owned Aberdour in Fife and large possessions in Lidderdale, as well as the fortalice of Dalkeith, a place of importance and strength," was " only second in importance to the ostensible Head of the house. In a heraldic sense they had a better claim [since 1388] to be regarded the Chiefs of the family than the Earls of Douglas, their pedigree being untainted with illegitimacy." (")] 1. Sir James Douglas, of Dalkeith,() s. and h. of Sir James D., one of the most powerful Barons of his time, by his ist wife, Agnes, da. of Patrick (Dunbar), Earl of Dunbar [S.], was knighted between Sep. 1390 and 18 Jan. 1391/2; sue. his father in 1420 in the barony of Aberdour, co. Fife, the castle and town of Dalkeith, &'c.; was one of the conservators of the treaty with England 1424, and is usually said to have been soon afterwards (1430.) "one of the first persons dignified with the title of a Lord of Parliaments^') as [Query.?] LORD DAL- KEITH [S.]. He m., istly, before 10 Nov. 1387, and possibly as early as 24 Mar. 138 1/2, Elizabeth, 3rd da. of John (Stewart), Earl of Carrick., afterwards King Robert III, by Annabel, ist da. of Sir John Drummond, of Stobhall. He m., 2ndly, between 141 1 and Oct. 1439, Janet, da. of Sir William Borthwick, of Borthwick. He d. between Feb. 1439/40 and May 1441. His widow »?. George (Crichton), Earl OF Caithness [S.], who d. in Aug. 1454. She was living 5 June 1464. 2. James (Douglas), Lord Dalkeith [S.], 2nd but ist surv.('=) s. and h. by ist wife, who before or soon after his succession was incapable of managing his affairs, and was so declared by Act of Pari. [S.] 22 May 1441. Hew. Elizabeth,() da. of James Gifford, sister of James GiFFORD, of SherifFhall, which last named James was appointed his Curator. He d. between 8 Sep. 1456 and 14 Mar. 1457/8. His wife was living 8 Sep. 1456, and probably surv. him. (*) See Exchequer Rolls [S.], ed. by G. Burnett, sometime Lyon, vol. v, p. Ixv. () There seems little evidence that a Barony of Dalkeith was ever created, or that it was anything more than a subsidiary or courtesy title of the heirs ap. of the Earls of Morton. Sir James Douglas, supposed to have been cr. Lord Dalkeith, is described in Royal Charters before and after his death merely as "James, Lord of Dal- keith, knight." On the other hand, Robert, the 8th (Douglas) Earl of Morton, is called "Lord Dalkeith" in a charter dat. 3 Nov. 1632, before his accession to the Earldom; and on 9 Sep. 1672, his s., William, Earl of Morton, formally by deed renounced his right to the style and designation of Lord Dalkeith, although the estate of that name had been alienated nearly 30 years before. V.G. (') His elder br., William, b. before Sep. 1390, had disp., 9 Dec. 1420, to m. Margaret Borthwick, widow of William Abernethy, but d. v.p. and j./-., probably in 1425, in England, where he had been a hostage for James I. V.G. {^) Margaret, da. of James (Douglas), 7th Earl of Douglas [S.], is often stated to have been his ist wife, but she was in fact wife of his next yr. br., Henry. V.G.
