1839, aged 80, and was buried in the family vault at Haddington Abbey on the 20th of the same month.
Lauderdale was a violent-tempered, shrewd, eccentric man, with a fluent tongue, a broad Scottish accent, and a taste for political economy. In 1792 he was one of the founders of the ‘Friends of the People’ (Stanhope, Life of Pitt, 1861, ii. 151); in June 1831, under ‘the skilful manœuvring of that cunning old recreant Lauderdale,’ twelve out of the sixteen Scottish representative peers were anti-reformers (Cockburn, Journal, 1874, i. 17). In consequence of the attack which Lauderdale made with the Duke of Bedford upon Burke's pension, Burke wrote his celebrated ‘Letter to a Noble Lord’ (1796). Lauderdale was one of the connoisseurs who were imposed upon by the Ireland forgeries [see Ireland, Samuel], and signed the attestation in favour of their authenticity (Ann. Register, 1796, Chron. pp. 11–12).
He married, on 15 Aug. 1782, Eleanor, only child of Anthony Todd, secretary of the general post office. She died at Thirlestane Castle on 16 Sept. 1856, aged 94. By her Lauderdale had four sons, all of whom were unmarried, and five daughters. The two elder sons, James (d. 1860) and Anthony (see below), were successively ninth and tenth earls. Eleanor, the third daughter, married, on 19 Jan. 1815, James Balfour of Whittinghame, Berwickshire, and died on 23 May 1869. Mr. Arthur James Balfour is her grandson.
There is a portrait of Lauderdale by J. Henning in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. A portrait by Colvin Smith was exhibited at the Loan Collection of National Portraits at South Kensington in 1868 (Catalogue, No. 73), and a bust by Nollekens at Somerset House in 1804.
Several of his speeches were separately published, and there are no less than eighty-six of his protests in the ‘Journals of the House of Lords’ (see Rogers, Protests of the Lords, vols. ii. and iii.) Besides the works already noticed he issued many political tracts, of which the chief are: 1. ‘Letters to the Peers of Scotland,’ London, 1794, 8vo. 2. ‘Thoughts on Finance suggested by the Measures of the present Session [1796] …,’ 3rd edit. London, 1797, 4to. 3. ‘A Letter on the present Measures of Finance, in which the Bill now depending in Parliament is particularly considered,’ London, 1798, 8vo. 4. ‘Thoughts on the Alarming State of the Circulation and of the Means of Redressing the Pecuniary Grievances of Ireland,’ Edinburgh, 1805, 8vo. 5. ‘Hints to the Manufacturers of Great Britain on the Consequences of the Irish Union; and the System since pursued of Borrowing in England for the Service of Ireland,’ Edinburgh, 1805, 8vo. 6. ‘An Inquiry into the Practical Merits of the System for the Government of India under the Superintendence of the Board of Controul,’ Edinburgh, 1809, 8vo. 7. ‘The Depreciation of the Paper-currency of Great Britain proved,’ London, 1812, 8vo. 8. ‘Further Considerations on the State of the Currency, in which the means of Restoring our Circulation to a salutary state are fully explained,’ &c. (Appendix), Edinburgh, 1813, 8vo. 9. ‘Letter on the Corn Laws,’ 1814, 8vo. 10. ‘Three Letters to the Duke of Wellington, on the Fourth Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, appointed in 1828 to enquire into the Public Income and Expenditure. In which the nature and tendency of a Sinking Fund is investigated and the fallacy of the reasoning by which it has been recommended is explained,’ London, 1829, 8vo. The authorship of the anonymous ‘Plan for Altering the Manner of Collecting a large part of the Public Revenue; with a short Statement of the Advantages to be derived from it’ [London? 1799?], 8vo, has been attributed to him.
The second son, Anthony Maitland, tenth Earl of Lauderdale (1785–1863), admiral of the red, entered the navy at an early age. He was wounded in Nelson's attack on the Boulogne flotilla in 1801, when he was made a C.B., and took part in Lord Exmouth's bombardment of Algiers in 1826. He was subsequently appointed G.C.B. and G.C.M.G. On his death (22 March 1863) the English barony of Lauderdale became extinct, but the Scottish earldom devolved on a cousin, Thomas Maitland, eleventh earl [q. v.]
[Dalzel's History of the University of Edinburgh, 1862, vol. i.; Diary and Correspondence of Lord Colchester, 1861; Lockhart's Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, 1845, pp. 138–9, 189, 190; Moore's Life of Byron, 1847, p. 185; Anderson's Scottish Nation, 1863, ii. 637–8; Biog. Dict. of Living Authors, 1816, p. 197; Georgian Era, 1832, i. 559–60; Gent. Mag. 1839, pt. ii. 538–40; Annual Register, 1839, App. to Chron. pp. 363–4; Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, 1813, ii. 78–80; Foster's Peerage, 1883, p. 415; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1888, iii. 904; Return of Members of Parliament, pt. ii. pp. 163, 183; Haydn's Book of Dignities, 1890; Catalogue of the Advocates' Library; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Notes and Queries, 7th ser. xii. 428 (bis) 1518.]
MAITLAND, Sir JOHN, Lord Maitland of Thirlestane (1545?–1595), lord chancellor of Scotland, second son of
