David Wemyss, 6th Earl of Wemyss

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David Wemyss, de jure 6th Earl of Wemyss (12 August 1721 - 29 April 1787), generally known as Lord Elcho even after his father's death, was a Scottish peer and Jacobite army officer.

Elcho was the eldest son and heir of James Wemyss, 5th Earl of Wemyss, and his wife Janet (d. 1778), daughter of Colonel Francis Charteris and Helen Swinton. His parents separated in 1732. He was educated at Winchester College, (1734 to 1738), and at the military academy at Angers. Elcho was in Rome from October 1740 until April 1741, where, he met James Stuart (Stuart claimant to the throne). He was appointed a colonel of dragoons in February 1744 and was a member of the Royal Company of Archers.

Elcho joined Prince Charles Edward Stuart at Gray's Mill, near Edinburgh, on 16 September 1745, when he became the prince's first aide-de-camp and an original member of his council. Elcho fought at the Battle of Prestonpans on 21 September 1745. Elcho was one of the majority who at a council of war held at Derby in December 1745 advised the prince to return to Scotland rather than advance further into England and face almost certain death. Later Elcho was present on 17 January 1746 at the siege of Falkirk and on 16 April 1745 at the battle of Culloden, at which Charles's army was defeated by English forces under the command of the Duke of Cumberland. Elcho, together with the Duke of Perth and other leaders of the Jacobite forces, escaped to France in the frigate Mars on 3 May 1746.

Elcho never returned to England, and for his part in the rising he was subject to the act of attainder passed in 1746 and his titles and lands were forfeited. In spite of this, he assumed the title of 6th Earl of Wemyss on his father's death on 21 March 1756, although he was generally known as Lord Elcho.

Elcho continued his military career in France, where he entered the service of Louis XV and held two unpaid offices, captain in the Fitzjames's regiment, and colonel in the Royal Scots. In the latter post Elcho was with his regiment at Gravelines from June to October 1757 and then at Dunkirk in 1758. Although he held no other military command, Louis XV conferred the Order of Military Merit upon him in July 1770.

Dividing his time between France and Switzerland, he become naturalized in Neûchatel. On 9 September 1776 Elcho married at Beûtal in Switzerland, baroness Sofie Frederikke Vilhelmine Yxkull-Gyllenband, a daughter (b. 1756) of Baron, later count Karl Gustav Friedrich von Uexkull-Güldenband, the first HRE count of Münchzell, and a minister of Wurttemberg. She died in childbirth on 26 November 1777. Elcho himself died in Paris in 1787, aged sixty-five, and was buried with his wife at Bôle in Switzerland.

[edit] References

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved on 2007-03-06.

Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by James Wemyss	Earl of Wemyss 1756 – 1787	Succeeded by Francis (Wemyss) Charteris