James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry

The 2nd Duke of Queensbury.

James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry and 1st Duke of Dover (18 December 1662 – 6 July 1711) was a Scottish nobleman.

Life

He was the eldest son of William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry and his wife Isabel Douglas, daughter of William Douglas, 1st Marquess of Douglas.

Educated at the University of Glasgow, he was appointed a Scottish Privy Counsellor in 1684, and was lieutenant-colonel of Dundee's regiment of horse. He joined William III in 1688 and was appointed colonel of the 6th Horse Guards Regiment.

He was appointed Lord High Treasurer of Scotland from 1693 and Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland from 1695 to 1702. He was Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland in 1700, 1702 and 1703, in which role he procured the abandonment of the Darién scheme.

He was appointed a Knight of the Garter in 1701, and was Secretary of State from 1702. He encouraged the Jacobites by his undecided attitude on the question of the settlement, and was deluded into unconsciously furthering the Jacobite designs of Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat. He withdrew from government in 1704.

File:Tomb of Mary, wife of the 2nd Duke of Queensberry.JPG

Tomb of James Douglas and his wife, Mary

He was reinstated as Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland in 1705, was a commissioner of the estates in 1706, and procured the signing of the Treaty of Union.

He was created Duke of Dover, Marquess of Beverley and Earl of Ripon in 1708, and appointed to the British Privy Council in the same year. He was Secretary of State for Scotland from 1709 until his death. Queensberry died at his house in Albermarle Street, Piccadilly, in 1711, of an "iliack passion" (intestinal obstruction). Queensberry House in Edinburgh is today part of the Scottish Parliament Building.

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Notes

Military offices
Preceded by The Earl of Linlithgow	Captain and Colonel of the Scots Troop of Horse Guards 1688–1696	Succeeded by The Earl of Argyll
Political offices
Unknown	Lord High Treasurer of Scotland 1693 – Date unknown	Unknown
Preceded by The Earl of Melville	Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland 1695–1702	Succeeded by The Duke of Atholl
Preceded by The Earl of Hyndford The Earl of Seafield	Secretary of State 1702–1704 with George Mackenzie	Succeeded by The Earl of Roxburghe The Earl of Seafield
Preceded by The Duke of Atholl	Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland 1705–1709	Succeeded by The Duke of Montrose
Preceded by The Earl of Mar	Secretary of State for Scotland 1709–1711	Succeeded by The Earl of Mar
Parliament of Scotland
Preceded by The Earl of Tullibardine	Lord High Commissioner 1700–1703	Succeeded by The Marquess of Tweeddale
Preceded by The Duke of Argyll	Lord High Commissioner 1707	Succeeded by Act of Union 1707
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by William Douglas	Duke of Queensberry 1695–1711	Succeeded by Charles Douglas
	Marquess of Queensberry 1695–1711	Succeeded by James Douglas
Peerage of Great Britain
New creation	Duke of Dover 1708–1711	Succeeded by Charles Douglas