James Douglas

Lieutenant-General James Douglas (1645–1691), younger brother of the Duke of Queensberry, was a Scottish military officer.

From 1672 to 1684, he served in the French army and the Dutch Scots Brigade, before being appointed Commander in Chief for Scotland by James II. After James was replaced by William III in the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, he held a number of senior commands in the 1689–1691 Williamite War in Ireland. He was transferred to the Low Countries in late 1690 to serve in the Nine Years War, and died of fever at Namur in 1691.

James Douglas was the second son of James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Queensberry (c. 1610 – 1671) and his wife Lady Margaret Stewart. The Earl signed the 1638 National Covenant and took little part in the 1639–1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms; arrested in 1645 for attempting to join Montrose's Royalist campaign, he was released after paying a fine. The Douglas family largely retained its position and estates throughout the various changes of regime in the 17th century.

Although he qualified as an advocate in 1665, in 1672 James joined Sir William Lockhart's Regiment, part of an Anglo-Scots force detached to the French Army between 1672 and 1674. His younger brothers John (1647–1675) and Robert (1650–1676) also became army officers; John was killed at Trier serving with the Régiment de Douglas in 1675, while Robert died in 1676, during the recapture of Maastricht by the Dutch.

He married Anna Hamilton and they had two sons, James and William. James received a commission in his father's regiment in 1688 but resigned in October 1691 and died in 1700; William died in 1712.

As a result of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, many in both Scotland and England viewed standing armies as a threat to individual liberty and society itself. Those who wanted a military career joined units in foreign service, such as the Dutch Scots Brigade. Loyalties were often based on religion or personal relationships, with officers moving between armies; Marshall Turenne (1611–1675), considered the greatest French general of his time, served in the Dutch army from 1625 to 1630.

In the 1670 Treaty of Dover, Charles II signed an alliance with Louis XIV against the Dutch Republic. Charles also agreed to supply the French army with a brigade of 6,000 men; in a secret provision not revealed until 1771, Louis agreed to pay him £230,000 per year for this.

On the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Dutch War in 1672, James Douglas was appointed Captain in Sir William Lockhart's Regiment, which formed part of the expeditionary force for a proposed landing in the Dutch Republic. When this plan was cancelled in 1673, Lockhart's joined the rest of the Brigade in the Rhineland, under the command of the Duke of Monmouth, Charles' illegitimate son. However, the alliance with Catholic France was deeply unpopular and England withdrew from the war with the 1674 Treaty of Westminster.

The Franco-Dutch War continued and to keep his French subsidies, Charles encouraged members of the Brigade to remain in French service; many did so, among them Monmouth and John Churchill, future Duke of Marlborough. Others enrolled in the Dutch Scots Brigade, including Douglas and a fellow officer in Lockhart's Regiment, John Graham, later Viscount Dundee.

The Scots Brigade had served in the Dutch army since the 1580s; despite the name, it normally contained several English regiments, which were withdrawn in 1672 but restored in 1674. James joined Colyear's Regiment, as did his brother Robert, who was killed at Maastricht in 1676; a Lieutenant-Colonel when the war ended in August 1678, he was promoted Colonel in March 1680.

During the Covenanter rebellion of June, 1679, Douglas was in Scotland and he took part in the Battle of Bothwell Bridge that ended it. He was awarded the lands of Patrick Murdock of Cumloden, one of those convicted for their participation; the grant was confirmed in April 1685.

The complex mix of loyalties during this period is shown by his connections to the Catholic George Douglas, later Earl of Dumbarton, Colonel of the 'Régiment de Douglas,' later the Royal Scots. For most of the period 1633 to 1679, it formed part of the French army; James' younger brother John was serving with it when he died at Trier in 1675. Without a standing army, units like Dumbartons and the Scots Brigade were an important source of military professionals for the English Crown, which took an interest in the appointment of officers and also controlled recruitment.

Scottish politics in the 1680s was dominated by his elder brother, the Marquess of Queensberry, appointed Treasurer of Scotland in 1682. James returned to Scotland permanently in June 1684, after his elder brother persuaded the Earl of Linlithgow to relinquish his position as Colonel of the Scots Footguards in his favour. Queensberry's need for a reliable, Protestant subordinate was driven by several factors, one being his feud with Dundee, a favourite of the future James II and the chief military power in Scotland.

In addition, many politicians were increasingly concerned by Catholic influence in the military, heightened by events in early 1684, when English Tangier was abandoned; apart from the expense, Parliament was concerned it was a 'nursery for Popish soldiers.' Under an administrative loophole, troops classed as 'garrisons' were largely exempt from Parliamentary control; all three Tangier regiments were given this designation on their return to England in early 1684 and remained in being.

James II succeeded Charles in April 1685 with widespread support in both countries; the 1681 Scottish Test Act required all public officials and MPs to swear unconditional loyalty to the monarch, 'regardless of religion,' but with the crucial qualifier that they 'promise to uphold the true Protestant religion.' The religious conflicts of the 17th century meant most Scots saw both dissident Presbyterians and Catholics as threats and opposed 'tolerance' for either, one reason why Argyll's Rising collapsed so quickly in June 1685.

He played an active role in the suppression of Argyll's Rising; the Tweedsmuir cemetery contains a memorial to John Hunter, cruelly murdered at Core Head by Col. James Douglas and his party for his adherence to the Word of God and Scotland’s Covenanted Work of Reformation 1685. In October, William Drummond, Viscount Strathallan was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Scotland, with James as Master-General of the Ordnance.

After Strathallan died in March 1688, Douglas assumed the position of Commander-in-Chief but it is not clear whether he was ever officially appointed as such and operational control was largely exercised by Dundee. In 1685, many supported James from fear of civil war if he were bypassed; by July 1688, anti-Catholic riots made it seem only his removal could prevent one.

The Scottish army was brought south to join the rest of James' forces after William of Orange landed in Brixham on 5 November, but his troops deserted and he went into exile on 23 December.Hugh Mackay, another former Scots Brigade colleague, replaced Douglas as Commander in Scotland.

In March, 1689, James II launched the 1689–1691 Williamite War in Ireland and Douglas joined the Williamite army led by Frederick Schomberg. He commanded a brigade at the Battle of the Boyne, where Schomberg was killed, then supervised the First Siege of Athlone. The offence took place shortly after a series of French victories in Europe heightened the possibility of a Stuart restoration, and its failure was viewed as a missed opportunity to end the war in Ireland. William generally viewed English and Scots officers as less trustworthy than Dutch or Germans, since political concerns often made them less willing to take risks. Douglas and two other senior officers, Percy Kirke and Sir John Lanier were posted to the Low Countries in May 1691.

All three were dead within a year; Douglas died of disease at Namur in July 1691, Kirke at Brussels in October and Lanier was killed at Steenkerque in August 1692. He was succeeded as Colonel of the Foot Guards by George Ramsay, another former Scots Brigade colleague.

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