James Drummond, 1st Baron Perth

James Drummond, 1st Baron Perth (12 February 1744 – 2 July 1800) was a Scottish landowner and peer.

Ancestry

Drummond was born at Lundin, Fife as James Lundin.^[1] The Lundins descended from Thomas de Lundin, a natural son of King William the Lion. On the death of John Lundin of Lundin in 1684 he was succeeded by his daughter Margaret, wife of Robert Maitland (a younger son of John Maitland, 1st Earl of Lauderdale). Their son John Lundin of Lundin was succeeded by his sister Sophia, first wife of John Drummond, 1st Earl of Melfort. Lundin was inherited by their son James Lundin,^[2] then his brother Robert Lundin (died 1716), who married Anne, daughter of Sir James Inglis of Cramond, and was the father of John (10 November 1704 – 9 October 1735) and James (born 6 November 1707). James married Lady Rachel Bruce, a daughter of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Kincardine, and was the father of the subject of this article.^[3] On 6 February 1760, following the death of Edward Drummond, sixth Jacobite-jurisdiction Duke of Perth, the elder James Lundin became heir to the Earldom of Perth, which had been forfeit since 1716 owing to the attainder of James Drummond, 2nd Duke of Perth. (The first Earl of Melfort was the younger son of James Drummond, 3rd Earl of Perth.) James Lundin assumed the surname of Drummond and styled himself 10th Earl of Perth.^[1] In 1776, following the death of Jean Drummond, Duchess of Perth in 1773, he took up residence at the Drummond estate of Stobhall in Perthshire.^[4]

Military career

The younger James Lundin, now also known as Drummond, joined the British Army in 1771.^[1] On 2 September 1780 he was promoted to Captain in the 2nd Battalion 42nd Highlanders,^[5] and served with the Battalion in India.^[1]

Claim to the Earldom of Perth

On 18 July 1781 James Drummond succeeded to his father's claim to the Earldom of Perth, but did not use the title.^[6] (His elder brother Thomas, styled Lord Drummond, had died the previous November.) In 1784 an Act was passed allowing the Crown to grant to the heirs-male the estates that had been forfeited in 1745, and on 8 March 1785 the Court of Session declared that he was the person entitled to the Drummond estates (including Drummond Castle), which he was duly granted. He submitted a claim to be Earl of Perth in 1792, but withdrew it in 1796, and on 26 October 1797 was created a Peer of Great Britain as Lord Perth, Baron Drummond of Stobhall in the County of Perth.^[1][7]

Family

On 31 March 1785 Drummond was married to Clementina Elphinstone (28 August 1749 – 31 August 1822), daughter of Charles Elphinstone, 10th Lord Elphinstone. They had three children:

• James (16 October 1791 – 11 August 1799)^[1]
• Clementina Sarah (5 May 1786 – 16 January 1865), who married Peter Robert Burrell on 20 October 1807;^[1] they adopted the surname of Drummond in addition to that of Burrell by Royal Licence on 6 November that year.^[8] He succeeded his father as Baron Gwydyr in 1820 and his mother as Baron Willoughby de Eresby in 1828.^[9] As the Hon. Mrs Drummond Burrell she was one of the Lady Patronesses of Almack's in 1814 as described in Captain Gronow's memoirs.
• Jemima Rachel (1 May 1787 – 28 April 1788)^[1]

Legacy

On Lord Perth's death at Innerpeffray the Barony of 1797 became extinct. The claim to the Earldom of Perth was inherited by the line of the titular Dukes of Melfort, for whom it was restored on 28 June 1853, before being inherited by the Viscounts Strathallan on 28 February 1902.^[10]

Lundin had been sold to Sir William Erskine of Torry before his death and was later inherited by James Erskine Wemyss.^[2] The Drummond estates were inherited under a settlement of 9 June 1800 by his daughter Clementina and her heirs.^[1] In 1953 Stobhall was passed by her descendant James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 3rd Earl of Ancaster to the heir-male John Drummond, 8th Earl of Perth,^[4] while Drummond Castle remains a seat of Jane Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby.

References