Lady Jane Douglas

Lady Jane Douglas

detail of painting by Allan Ramsay
Born 17 March 1698
Died 21 November 1753
Edinburgh
Nationality Scottish

Lady Jane Douglas or Jane Steuart (17 March 1698 – 21 November 1753) was a Scottish noblewoman. She married secretly and had twins abroad at the age of fifty who would inherit the family's riches. This birth was thought incredible and the ensuing long and expensive court case was fought in three countries and it was settled in her favour by the House of Lords in 1769, over 15 years after her death.

Life

Lady Jane Douglas was the daughter of James Douglas, 2nd Marquess of Douglas and the only sibling of Archibald Douglas, third marquess and first duke of Douglas. Her maternal grandfather was Robert Kerr, first marquess of Lothian.

When she was 22 the Duchess of Queensberry thwarted the plan for her to marry Francis Scott, 2nd Duke of Buccleuch by marrying him, coincidentally, to another Jane Douglas who was the daughter of James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry and the duchess's sister in law.

Despite several earls and dukes wanting to be suitors this Jane Douglas refused their proposals. She was able to live due to the support of her brother, and despite him she started a romance with the penniless Colonel John Steuart of Grandtully. After two years she heard rumours of his misbehaviour and refused to see him again. After a decade she realised that the rumours were untrue and she and the Colonel were married in 1746 at Drumsheugh without the knowledge of her brother.

Douglas Cause

In the middle of 1748 she admitted the marriage and gave out the news that she was heavily pregnant with twin boys. Her twins were born in Paris where the couple had moved to escape their creditors. One of these children would inherit the family's riches. It was suspected that she had adopted rather than given birth to the twins.[1]

Douglas and one of her twin children died in Edinburgh in 1753.[2]

The ensuing long and expensive court case over the family's inheritance with Duke of Hamilton became known as the Douglas Cause.[1] The court case started in 1761 and involved judges in Scotland, England and France.[3] It was eventually settled in the son's favour by the House of Lords[4] in February 1769. The lords overturned the previous judgement made two years before in Scotland and awarded the Douglas estates to Archibald Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas.[3] The inheritance included Douglas Castle, which later descended to Alec Douglas-Home, British Prime Minister.

References

  1. 1 2 Hale, Beth (1 September 2008). "How a scrawled note may solve the 260-year-old mystery of the 'lady who lied'". Daily Mail. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  2. ↑ Rosalind K. Marshall, ‘Douglas, Lady Jane (1698–1753)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 21 December 2014
  3. 1 2 The Douglas Cause, T. B. Simpson; The Scottish Historical Review' Vol. 33, No. 115, Part 1 (April, 1954), pp. 37-39, Edinburgh University Press
  4. ↑ William C. Lowe, ‘Douglas , Archibald James Edward, first Baron Douglas (1748–1827)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 22 December 2014
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