Francis Charteris, 7th Earl of Wemyss

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Francis Wemyss Charteris, de jure 7th Earl of Wemyss (21 October 172324 August 1808), was a Scottish peer.

Charteris was the second son of James Wemyss, 5th Earl of Wemyss and his wife Janet, daughter and wealthy heiress of Colonel Francis Charteris. He was born with the name Francis Wemyss but on 24 February 1732, he legally changed it to Francis Wemyss Charteris, adopting his mother's maiden name on the inheritance of the estates of his maternal grandfather Colonel Charteris. In a Haddingtonshire Sasine registered on the 8 August 1792, No.576, Francis Charteris, Earl of Wemyss was seised in the barony of Newmilns, or Amisfield, Haddingtonshire, plus half of the barony of Morham and its lands, plus the grain mill of the monastery of Haddington called Abbey Mill.

His elder brother David, Lord Elcho, was implicated in the Jacobite rising of 1745, and was attainted in 1746. He died childless in 1756 and Charteris would have succeeded as seventh Earl but for the attainder. However, he still assumed the title.

On 12 September 1745, he married Lady Katherine Gordon, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Gordon. They had two children:

  • Frances Charteris (d. 1848)
  • Francis Wemyss Charteris, Lord Elcho (17491808)

Charteris died in August 1808, aged 84. His grandson Francis obtained a reversal of the attainder in 1826 and became the eighth Earl of Wemyss.

Freemasonry offices
Preceded by
William Nisbet
Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of Scotland

1747–1748
Succeeded by
Hugh Seton
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by
David Wemyss
Earl of Wemyss
1787–1808
Succeeded by
Francis Charteris


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