RUGLEN, Earl of, a title in the peerage of Scotland, conferred by patent, dated 5th April 1697, on Lord John Hamilton, fourth son of William and Anne, duke and duchess of Hamilton, with the secondary titles of viscount of Riccartoun and Lord Hillhouse, to him and the heirs male of his body, remainder to the heirs whatsoever of his body. Born in January 1665, he was for some time master of the mint in Scotland, but was deprived of that office for opposing the proceedings of the government. On the death of his brother, Charles, earl of Selkirk, in 1739, that title devolved upon him, and he was thenceforth styled earl of Ruglen and Selkirk. He died at Edinburgh, 3d December 1744, in his 80th year, having been twice married, first, to his cousin-german, Lady Anne Kennedy, only daughter of the seventh earl of Cassillis, and by her had one son and two daughters; and, secondly, to Elizabeth Hutchinson, relict of John, Lord Kennedy, mother of the eighth earl of Cassillis, without issue. The son, William, Lord Riccartoun, born in 1696, after his father became earl of Selkirk, was styled Lord Daer. He was an officer in the army, and died, unmarried, at Edinburgh, 20th February 1742, in his 46th year, of a fever, occasioned by overheating himself in dancing with Miss Blair, heiress of Kinfauns, afterwards Lady Gray. Anne, the elder of the two daughters, succeeded her father an countess of Ruglen. The earldom of Selkirk devolved on her father’s grand-nephew, Dunbar Hamilton of Baldoon (see SELKIRK, earl of). The younger daughter, Lady Susan, married her cousin, John, eighth earl of Cassillis, the son of her step-mother.

Anne, countess of Ruglen, married, first, the second earl of March, and by him had an only child, William, fourth duke of Queensberry, earl of March and Ruglen. She married, secondly, Anthony Sawyer, Esq., paymaster of the forces in Scotland, without issue. She died at York, on her way to London, 21st April 1748, in her 51st year, when the title of earl of Ruglen devolved on her son, William, earl of March and Ruglen, at one period celebrated on the turf, and in his latter years called “Old Q in the corner,” from his daily habit of sitting in the parlour bow-window of his house in Piccadilly, London, looking out on the passers-by in the street; on whose death, in December 1810, the title became extinct. See QUEENSBERRY, Duke of.