Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hope, Charles (1681-1742)
HOPE, CHARLES, of Hopetoun, first Earl of Hopetoun (1681–1742), only son of John Hope of Hopetoun, by his wife Lady Margaret Hamilton, eldest daughter of John, fourth earl of Haddington, was born in 1681. As soon as he came of age he was (in 1702) elected a member in the Scots parliament for the county of Linlithgow. The following year he was elected a privy councillor, and created on 5 April a peer of Scotland by the titles of Earl of Hopetoun, Viscount Aithrie, and Lord Hope. He was a zealous supporter of the union. In 1715 he was constituted lord-lieutenant of the county of Linlithgow, and in 1723 was appointed lord high commissioner to the general assembly of the church of Scotland. He was chosen a representative Scottish peer in 1722, and at subsequent elections till his death. In 1738 he was invested with the order of the Thistle. He built as his chief residence Hopetoun House, Linlithgowshire, and died there on 26 Feb. 1742. By his wife Lady Henrietta Johnstone, only daughter of the first Marquis of Annandale, he had four sons and nine daughters, and he was succeeded by his second son, John.
[Douglas's Scottish Peerage, ed. Wood, i. 744–748; Foster's Members of Parl. (Scotland).]