Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dalyell, Robert (d.1737)
DALYELL or DALZELL, Sir ROBERT sixth Earl of Carnwath (d. 1737), was the eldest son of Sir John Dalyell of Glenae, Dumfriesshire, by his wife Harriet, second daughter of Sir William Murray of Stanhope, bart. He was educated at the university of Cambridge, and like his other relations was a zealous supporter of the Stuarts. On the death of the fifth earl of Carnwath in 1703 he succeeded him as sixth earl; but the property of Carnwath had previous to this been sold by the fourth earl to Sir George Lockhart, lord president of the Court of Session. His brother, the Hon. John Dalyell, who was married to a daughter of Viscount Kenmure, on learning of the arrival of the Earl of Mar in 1715 resigned his commission as captain in the army, and set off immediately to the earl's residence at Elliock, to give the news and obtain the co-operation of the other Jacobite nobles of the south of Scotland. On 27 Aug. the Earl of Carnwath attended the so-called hunting-match convened by the Earl of Mar at Aberdeen, and being summoned to Edinburgh to give bail for his allegiance he disregarded the summons. He joined the forces which, under Viscount Kenmure, assembled at Moffat on 11 Oct., and on the arrival at Kelso William Irvine, his episcopalian chaplain, on 23 Oct. delivered the identical sermon he had preached in the highlands twenty-six years before, in the presence of Dundee. On their arrival at Langholm on 30 Oct. a detachment of two hundred horse, divided into squadrons commanded respectively by Lords Wintoun and Carnwath, were sent forward in advance to hold Dumfries; but learning at Ecclefechan that it was strongly defended, information was sent to Viscount Kenmure, who determined to abandon the intended attack, and led his forces into England. The Earl of Carnwath and his brother, the Hon. John Dalyell, were both taken prisoners at Preston on 14 Nov. The latter was tried by court-martial as a deserter, but was able to prove that he had resigned his commission before joining the rebels. The earl, along with Viscount Kenmure and the other leaders of the southern rebellion in Scotland, were impeached on 18 Jan. before the House of Lords for high treason, when he pleaded guilty and threw himself on the mercy of the king. He was condemned, with the other lords, to be beheaded, but was respited, until ultimately his life was protected by the indemnity. He was four times married: first, to Lady Grace Montgomery, third daughter of the ninth Earl of Eglinton, by whom he had two daughters; second, to Grizel, daughter of Alexander Urquhart of Newhall, by whom he had a son, Alexander, who succeeded to the estates; third, to Margaret, daughter of John Hamilton of Bangor, by whom he had a daughter; and fourth, to Margaret, third daughter of Thomas Vincent o Bamburgh Grange, Yorkshire, by whom he had a son.
[Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), i. 313; State Trials, xv. 762–806; Patten's History of Rebellion in Scotland, 1717; Hill Burton's History of Scotland.]T. F. H.