Charles Douglas-Home, 12th Earl of Home

An 1870 photo of Charles Douglas-Home, 12th Earl of Home, with his wife Maria

Charles Alexander Douglas-Home, 12th Earl of Home, KT, TD (11 April 1834 – 30 April 1918), styled Lord Dunglass between 1841 and 1881, was a British politician and nobleman. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire from 1879 to 1880 and Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire from 1890 to 1915.^[1]

Background

Home was born at The Hirsel near Coldstream, the son of Cospatrick Douglas-Home, 11th Earl of Home and Hon. Lucy Elizabeth Montagu-Scott, daughter of Henry, 2nd Baron Montagu of Boughton and his wife Hon. Jane Douglas (the daughter of Archibald, 1st Baron Douglas.^[2] He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1877, he inherited the extensive Douglas and Angus estates from his mother. These included Douglas Castle, Bothwell Castle, and lands totalling some 104,000 acres, chiefly in Lanarkshire, Roxburghshire and Berwickshire.^[3] In 1877, his name was legally changed to Charles Alexander Douglas-Home by Royal Licence. He inherited his father's titles and Berwickshire estate at The Hirsel in 1881.

Offices

He held the office of Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire between 1879 and 1890. He served as aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria between 1887 and 1897. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire from 1890 to 1915. He held the office of Captain of the Royal Company of Archers. He gained the rank of Honorary Colonel in the service of the 3rd and 4th Battalions, Scottish Rifles and Lanarkshire Yeomanry. In 1899, he was invested as a Knight Companion of the Order of the Thistle. He was decorated with the award of the Territorial Decoration.

Family

Lord Home married Maria Grey, the daughter of Captain Charles Conrad Grey, RN (and great-niece of Charles, 2nd Earl Grey) on 18 August 1870. They had five children:^[4]

• Charles Cospatrick Archibald Douglas-Home, 13th Earl of Home (1873–1951)
• Lady Mary Elizabeth Margaret Douglas-Home (died 1951), married Richard Meade, Lord Gillford, eldest son of 4th Earl of Clanwilliam.
• Lady Issobel Charlotte Douglas-Home (died 1934) unmarried.
• Lady Beatrix Douglas-Home (died 1940), married Sir Henry Dundas, 3rd Baronet of Arniston.
• Lady Margaret Jane Douglas-Home (died 1955), married Reginald Walsh, 5th Baron Ormathwaite.

Labrador Retrievers

During the 1880s, Lord Home along with his cousin the 6th Duke of Buccleuch and the 3rd Earl of Malmesbury collaborated to develop and establish the modern breed of Labrador Retriever, by interbreeding lines originally imported by their respective families from Newfoundland in the 1830s. The resulting offspring are considered to be the ancestors of modern Labradors.^[5][6][7]

References

1. London Gazette issue 26020 4 February 1890
2. The Peerage, Retrieved 10 January 2016
3. John Bateman (1878), The Great Land Owners of Great Britain and Ireland, London, Harrison and Sons
4. The Peerage, Retrieved 10 January 2016
5. "The Buccleuch Labrador". The Buccleuch Estates Limited. 2003. Archived from the original on 15 January 2007. Retrieved September 13, 2007.
6. Article written for The Field, May 30th 1896, 'Labrador Dogs', by John S Kerss
7. Miller, Liza Lee; Cindy Tittle Moore (January 7, 2004). "FAQ Labrador Retrievers". Puget Sound Labrador Rescue. Archived from the original on August 25, 2007. Retrieved September 13, 2007.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Home