Douglas Cause
1760s court case in Great Britain
The Douglas Cause was a cause célèbre and legal struggle in Scotland during the 1760s. The main parties were Archibald Douglas (1748–1827) and James Douglas-Hamilton, 7th Duke of Hamilton (1755–1769). The affair gripped the nation, leading to death threats and rioting.
Background
Archibald Douglas, 3rd Marquess and 1st Duke of Douglas (1694–1761) had been raised to the dukedom by Queen Anne in 1703 at the age of nine in order to secure the loyalty of the powerful Clan Douglas to her new regime. The duke was virtually illiterate and took no part in the affairs of the nation. He lived largely as a recluse and may have suffered from insanity.
The duke remained unmarried until late in life and had no issue. His sister Lady Jane Douglas (1698–1753) was his putative heir. In the event of her remaining childless, most of the duke’s fortune along with a string of titles and ancient honours would pass to his kinsmen, the Dukes of Hamilton, who were descended in the male line from William Douglas, 1st Marquess of Douglas.
Until 1748, all looked set fair for the Hamiltons.
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This entry incorporates text from “Douglas Cause” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.