| Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th Edition | Public Domain via Project Gutenberg |
The substantial origin of the ducal house of the Scotts of Buccleuch dates back to the large grants of lands in Scotland to Sir Walter Scott of Kirkurd and Buccleuch, a border chief, by James II., in consequence of the fall of the 8th earl of Douglas (1452); but the family traced their descent back to a Sir Richard le Scott (1240-1285). The estate of Buccleuch is in Selkirkshire. Sir Walter Scott of Branxholm and Buccleuch (d. 1552) distinguished himself at the battle of Pinkie (1547), and furnished material for his later namesake's famous poem, The Lay of the Last Minstrel; and his great-grandson Sir Walter (1565-1611) was created Lord Scott of Buccleuch in 1606. An earldom followed in 1619. The second earl's daughter Anne (1651-1732), who succeeded him as a countess in her own right, married in 1663 the famous duke of Monmouth (q.v.), who was then created 1st duke of Buccleuch; and her grandson Francis became 2nd duke. The latter's son Henry (1746-1812) became 3rd duke, and in 1810 succeeded also, on the death of William Douglas, 4th duke of Queensberry, to that dukedom as well as its estates and other honours, according to the entail executed by his own great-grandfather, the 2nd duke of Queensberry, in 1706; he married the duke of Montagu's daughter, and was famous for his generosity and benefactions. His son Charles William Henry (d. 1819), grandson Walter Francis Scott (1806-1884), and great-grandson William Henry Walter Montagu Douglas Scott (b. 1831), succeeded in turn as 4th, 5th and 6th dukes of Buccleuch and 6th, 7th, and 8th dukes of Queensberry. The 5th duke was lord privy seal 1842-1846, and president of the council 1846. It was he who at a cost of over £500,000 made the harbour at Granton, near Edinburgh. He was president of the Highland and Agricultural Society, the Society of Antiquaries and of the British Association. The 6th duke sat in the House of Commons as Conservative M.P. for Midlothian, 1853-1868 and 1874-1880; his wife, a daughter of the 1st duke of Abercorn, held the office of mistress of the robes.
See Sir W. Fraser, The Scotts of Buccleuch (1878).