PERTH, Earl of, a title in the peerage of Scotland, conferred 4th March 1605, on James, fourth Lord Drummond, to him and his heirs male whatsoever. Dying without issue male, his brother, John, became second earl, 18th December 1611. This nobleman was one of those who voted for the five articles of Perth in 1621. With his son, James, Lord Drummond, he joined the association formed by the marquis of Montrose at Cumbernauld in 1641, for the support of the royal authority, and in 1654 he was, with his son, fined by Cromwell £5,000. He died 11th June 1662. With two daughters, he had five sons; 1. Henry, Lord Drummond, who died in infancy. 2. James, third earl of Perth. 3. The Hon. Robert Drummond of Auchinelhot, who died young. 4. The Hon. Sir John Drummond of Logie-Almond, who also joined Montrose. Drummond of Logie-Almond was one of the partisans of the Pretender in 1715, and was taken prisoner at the battle of Sheriffmuir. To this family belonged the distinguished scholar and antiquary, The Right Hon. Sir William Drummond of Logie-Almond; and 5. William, second earl of Roxburghe (see ROXBURGHE, earl of).

James, third earl, joined the marquis of Montrose in August 1645, and on the 13th of the following month was taken prisoner at the battle of Philiphaugh. He died 2d June 1675. By his countess, Lady Anne Gordon, eldest daughter of the second marquis of Huntly, with whom he got a tocher of £30,000 Scots, he had a daughter, Anne, countess of Errol, and two sons, James, fourth earl of Perth, and John, first earl of Melfort.

James, fourth earl of Perth, born in 1648, studied at the university of St. Andrews, and afterwards visited the continent. In 1678 he was sworn a privy councilor. He joined the opposition to the duke of Lauderdale, after whose fall he was, in May 1682, appointed lord-justice-general. ON 16th November following, he became one of the extraordinary lords of session, and on 23d June 1684, lord-chancellor of Scotland, and sheriff-principal of the county of Edinburgh. On the accession of James VII., he was continued in all his offices, and had the management of affairs in Scotland. He declared himself a Roman Catholic, and was invested with the order of the Thistle, on its revival in 1687. Having rendered himself obnoxious, by the cruel proceedings of the government against the persecuted Presbyterians, on James’ abdication, the mob plundered his house in Edinburgh, and in attempting to make his escape to the continent, in a vessel from Burntisland, he was pursued by some seamen from Kirkcaldy, and taken near the Bass, at the mouth of the Forth. After being detained for five days in the common prison of Kirkcaldy, he was sent to Alloa, where he was delivered into the custody of the earl of Mar, and he remained for nearly four years a close prisoner in Stirling castle. A guard of 300 was kept up at Kirkcaldy for four months, as information was received that a body of his clansmen were coming from the Highlands, to burn the town, in revenge for the earl’s apprehension. On his liberation in August 1693, his lordship went to Rome, where he resided for two years. King James sent for him to St. Germains, and created him duke of Perth, first lord of his bedchamber, and knight of the Garter. He was also made chamberlain to the exiled queen, and governor of the young prince of Wales, afterwards the Chevalier de St. George. He died at St. Germains, in France, 11th March, 1716, and was interred in the chapel of the Scottish college at Paris.

James, Lord Drummond, his eldest son, by his countess, Lady Jane Douglas, was a firm adherent of the house of Stuart. He attended James VII. In his expedition to Ireland in 1690, after which he returned to Scotland. He opposed the Union, and was one of the first to join in the rebellion of 1715. He formed the daring project of seizing the castle of Edinburgh, of which he was to have been made governor had it succeeded, but the attempt was frustrated in time. He escaped to France in the same vessel with the Chevalier de St. George, and was attainted for his share in the insurrection. He had executed a disposition of his estates 28th August 1713, in favour of his son, which was sustained by the court of session in 1719, and affirmed by the house of lords in 1720. On his father’s death in 1716, he assumed the title of duke of Perth. He died at Paris in 1730. He married Lady Jean Gordon, only daughter of George, first duke of Gordon, and by her he had two sons, who adhered faithfully to the exiled family. When the duke of Cumberland arrived at Perth, on his way to the north, he caused the duchess of Perth and the countess of Strathallan, 11th February 1746, to be apprehended, conveyed to Edinburgh and imprisoned in the castle, and they were not liberated till the 17th of the following November. The duchess died in 1773, aged about 90.

The elder son, James, styled duke of Perth, joined Prince Charles Edward, on his arrival at Perth, in September 1745. He is said to have shot one or two of his vassals who refused to take up arms for the prince, but the charge is very likely to have been a fabrication. At the battle of Preston or Gladsmuir, he commanded the right wing, as lieutenant-general, “and,” says Douglas, “in spite of a very delicate constitution, he underwent the greatest fatigues, and was the first on every occasion of duty, where he head or his hands could be of use; bold as a lion in the field, but ever merciful in the hour of victory.” He accompanied the Highland army into England, and at the siege of Carlisle had the principal command. He directed the attack, signed the capitulation, and gave orders in the town till the prince’s arrival. On the retreat from Derby, the duke was dispatched from Preston, with 100 horse, to bring up from Scotland some reinforcements which had arrived from France under his brother, John, styled Lord John Drummond. The latter, who, with the duke, was educated at the Scots college of Douay, and afterwards at Paris, had entered the service of the king of France, for whom he raised a regiment called the Royal Scots, of which he was appointed colonel. IN November 1745, he arrived at Montrose, in command of the troops sent to Charles’ assistance by the French king. He also brought with him a train of artillery, and a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition. He joined the prince at Stirling, on his return from England, and commanded the left wing at the battle of Falkirk. After the action he was slightly wounded in the arm by a straggling shot, on entering the town. The duke of Perth had been left at Stirling with several battalions, to prosecute the siege of the castle. At the battle of Culloden, the duke commanded on the left of the first line. After that disastrous battle he escaped to the coast of Moydart, where he embarked for France, but his constitution being quite exhausted with the fatigues he had undergone, he died on the passage, 11th May 1746, having just completed his 33d year. His brother and heir, Lord John Drummond, succeeded in making his escape to France, and afterwards served with distinction under Marshal Saxe in Flanders. After the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom in 1747, he had the rank of major-general. At the time he received this promotion he was lying ill of a fever, of which he died the same year, without issue. Before this he had been attainted by the British parliament, and his estates and titles forfeited to the crown. On his death, his uncle, the Hon. John Drummond, also styled Lord John Drummond, assumed the title of duke of Perth. He died at Edinburgh, 27th October 1757, and was buried in the Abbey church of Holyrood.

On his death, his brother, the Hon. Edward Drummond, till then styled Lord Edward Drummond, assumed the title of duke of Perth. He died at Paris, 7th February 1760, with this line of the family became extinct.

On June 28, 1853, George Drummond, Duke ode Melfort, Comte de Lussan, and Baron de Valrose, in France, descended from John, earl of Melfort, in the Scottish peerage, attainted in 1695, was restored by act of parliament to the titles of earl of Perth and Lord Drummond of Stobhall and Montifex, Viscount Melfort and Forth, and Lord Drummond of Rickertoun, and Castlemaine and Galstoun, in the peerage of Scotland; the said earl of Melfort being the Hon. John Drummond, second son of the third earl of Perth. Born in London May 6, 1807, he was at one time a captain 93d Highlanders. He married 1st in 1831, the Baroness Albertine de Rothery, widow of General Comte Rapp, issue, with a daughter, who died in infancy, 2 sons, Willoughby, born in 1832, died in Feb. 1833. 2. Malcolm, Viscount Forth, born at Naples, May 13, 1834, married in 1855 Mary, eldest daughter of Hon. Adolphus Capel, and niece of the earl of Essex, and died in 1861, leaving a son, George Essex Montifex, Lord Drummond, born in 1856. The earl married 2dly in 1847, Susan, widow of Col. Burrowes, and daughter of Thomas Bermingham Sewell, Esq. of Athenry, issue 2 daughters.

_____

PERTH, Baron, a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom, conferred, in 1797, on James Drummond, the lineal descendant of John, earl of Melfort, who, in 1785, had obtained possession of the Perth estates. He was also, at the same time, created Baron Drummond of Stobhall. He died in 1800, without surviving male issue, when his titles became extinct; but the estates devolved upon the Hon. Clementina Sarah Drummond, his daughter and sole heiress. In April 1807 she married the Hon. Peter Robert Burrel, eldest son of the first Lord Gwydyr, who, on 5th Nov. following, assumed, by sign manual, the additional surname and arms of Drummond. In June 1820, he succeeded his father as 2d Lord Gwydyr, and in December 1828, his mother as 19th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, as well as joint hereditary great chamberlain of England.