James Innes-Ker, 5th Duke of Roxburghe

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James Innes-Ker, 5th Duke of Roxburghe (10 January 1736-19 July 1823), was a Scottish nobleman.

He was the eldest surviving son of Sir Henry Innes, 5th Baronet (c. 1711-1762), and Anne Drummonda Grant (1711-1771). He succeeded to the Baronetcy on his father's death. Through the Innes family, he was a descendant of Robert Ker, 1st Earl of Roxburghe, and in 1812 established his claim to the vacant Dukedom of Roxburghe. The 4th Duke had died childless in 1805, leaving the title dormant. James took the name Innes-Ker, and became the 5th Duke of Roxburghe. Among the his rival claimants to the Dukedom was John Bellenden Ker (c. 1765-1842), famous as a wit and botanist and the author of Archaeology of Popular Phrases and Nursery Rhymes (1837), whose son was the legal reformer Charles Henry Bellenden Ker (c. 1785-1871).

Roxburghe married twice. In 1769 he married Mary Wray, who died in 1807. That same year he married Harriet Charlewood. He had one son by this second marriage, James, who succeeded to the Dukedom on his death.

Portraits of the Duke and his second Duchess were painted by Henry Raeburn, and hang in the entrance hall of the family seat of Floors Castle in the Scottish Borders.

Preceded by William Ker

Duke of Roxburghe 1812–1823

Succeeded by James Innes-Ker

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.