Portugal in 1809 to organise the Portuguese army, Douglas was one of the officers selected to accompany him, and he was in February 1809 promoted major in the English army and appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 8th Portuguese regiment. He soon got his regiment fit for service, and was present at the brilliant passage of the Douro in May 1809, and at the close of the year his regiment was attached to Picton's, the 3rd division, and brigaded with the 88th and 45th regiments. At the battle of Busaco this brigade had to bear the brunt of the French attack, and Douglas's Portuguese received merited praise for its conduct, which was specially mentioned in Lord Wellington's despatch. He commanded this regiment all through the campaign of 1811, and in 1812, when the Portuguese were considered sufficiently disciplined to be brigaded alone, it formed part of Pack's Portuguese brigade. This was the brigade which distinguished itself at the battle of Salamanca by its gallant though vain attempt to carry the hill of the Arapiles, and Douglas's name was again mentioned in despatches. At the beginning of 1813 Major-general Pack was removed to the command of an English brigade, and Douglas, who had been promoted lieutenant-colonel in May 1811, succeeded him in the 7th Portuguese brigade, which formed part of Sir John Hamilton's Portuguese division. At the head of this brigade he distinguished himself at the battles of the Pyrenees, where he was wounded, of the Nivelle, the Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse, where he was again twice most severely wounded and lost a leg. At the conclusion of the war he received a gold cross and three clasps for the battles in which he had been engaged with a regiment or brigade, was made K.T.S. and K.C.B. on the extension of the order of the Bath, and was appointed quartermaster-general in Scotland. Douglas was promoted colonel in 1819 and major-general in 1830, when he received the command of the south-western district of Ireland. From 1837 to 1842 he was lieutenant-governor of Guernsey. He was promoted lieutenant-general in 1838, and was made a G.C.B. in 1860. He had been made colonel of the 93rd foot in 1840 and of the 42nd highlanders in 1850, and was promoted general in 1854. After leaving Guernsey he retired to Clifton, where he died on 6 March 1862, aged 77.
[Royal Military Calendar; Gent. Mag. April 1862.]
DOUGLAS, Lady JANE (1698–1753), only daughter of James, second marquis of Douglas [q. v.], and Lady Mary Ker, was born on 17 March 1698. Her father died when she was three years old, and she was brought up by her mother, the marchioness, who for some time resided at Merchiston Castle, then near, now in Edinburgh. Both beautiful and highly accomplished, Lady Jane had many suitors, including the Dukes of Hamilton, Buccleuch, and Atholl, and the Earls of Hopetoun, Aberdeen, and Panmure. In 1720 an engagement to Francis, earl of Dalkeith, afterwards second duke of Buccleuch, was broken off through the action of Catherine Hyde, duchess of Queensberry, who designed the earl for another Lady Jane Douglas, her own sister-in-law. This is distinctly stated by Anna, duchess of Buccleuch (Fraser, Red Book of Grandtully, ii. 306). While arrangements for the marriage were being concluded, a letter purporting to come from her lover, and confessing to a previous attachment, was handed to Lady Jane by a stranger. Lady Jane determined to seek the seclusion of a foreign convent, and, assisted by her French maid, set out secretly for Paris in male dress. She was followed and brought back by her mother and brother, and the latter, it is said, fought a duel with the Earl of Dalkeith.
Her brother more than doubled the allowance settled on her by their father, and as even then the whole amount of her annual income did not exceed 140l., he increased it again in 1736, after their mother's death, to 300l., reserving power to revoke the 160l. At this time Lady Jane took up her residence at Drumsheugh House, in another part of Edinburgh, and it was there that she concealed for a time the Chevalier Johnstone after his escape from the battle of Culloden in 1746. There too she married on 4 Aug. 1746 Colonel (afterwards Sir) John Stewart, second son of Sir Thomas Stewart of Balcaskie, of the family of Grandtully in Perthshire, a lover who had been abroad for ten years after a previous misunderstanding. At this time Colonel Stewart had little fortune beside his sword, with which he had won promotion in the Swedish service.
For several years previous to her marriage Lady Jane had been estranged from her brother [see Douglas, Archibald, first Duke of Douglas]. Fearing that the duke might withdraw her allowance, Lady Jane concealed her marriage, and travelled on the continent under the assumed name of Mrs. Gray. Accompanied by the nurse of her youth, Mrs. Hewit, Lady Jane and Colonel Stewart went to the Hague, and after some stay there proceeded to Utrecht and Aix-la-Chapelle, whence in May 1748 they went to Paris, where she gave birth to twin sons on 10 July.
