Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kerr, William Henry

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732025Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 31 — Kerr, William Henry1892Henry Paton

KERR, WILLIAM HENRY, fourth Marquis of Lothian (d. 1775), the elder son of William, third marquis, and Margaret Nicholson of Kempney, was a captain in the first regiment of foot-guards in 1741. He acted as aide-de-camp to the Duke of Cumberland at Fontenoy, 30 April 1745, when he was severely wounded by a shot in the head. He also attended the duke at Culloden, having command there of the cavalry on the extreme left wing of the royal army, after which he was placed for a short time in charge of all the forces on the east of Scotland. In December 1746 he again accompanied the duke to the continent. On the death of his granduncle, Lord Mark Kerr, he was promoted to be colonel of his regiment, the 11th dragoons, and was, as lieutenant-general, with the duke in his expedition to the east coast of France in 1758. He was styled Lord Jedburgh until his marriage in 1735, when he assumed the title of Earl of Ancrum. He represented Richmond in parliament in 1747, and was reelected by the same constituency in 1754 and 1761, but resigned in 1763. He succeeded as fourth Marquis of Lothian on his father's death on 28 July 1767. In 1768 he was chosen one of the sixteen representative peers of Scot1and, and on the same day, 26 Oct., was invested as a knight of the Thistle at St. James's Palace. He was promoted to the rank of general in the army in 1770, and died at Bath on 12 April 1775. He married in 1735 Caroline d'Arcy, only daughter of Robert, third earl of Holderness. The marchioness died in October 1778. By her Lothian left a son and successor, William John, fifth marquis, and two daughters, Louisa, married to Lord George Henry Lennox, and Willielmina Emilia, married to John Macleod, colonel R.A.

[Douglas's Peerage of Scotland (Wood), ii. 141.]

H. P.