William Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll

The Right Honourable The Earl of Erroll KT GCH PC
Lord Steward of the Household
In office 21 November 1839 – 30 August 1841
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Viscount Melbourne
Preceded by	The Duke of Argyll
Succeeded by	The Earl of Liverpool
Personal details
Born	21 February 1801
Died	19 April 1846 (aged 45) London, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Whig
Spouse(s)	Lady Elizabeth FitzClarence (1801–1856)

William George Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll KT GCH PC (21 February 1801 – 19 April 1846), styled Lord Hay between 1815 and 1819, was a Scottish peer and politician.^[1]

Background and education

Erroll was the son of William Hay, 17th Earl of Erroll, and his wife Alice (née Eliot). His paternal grandfather was James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll, son of William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock (who was attainted with his titles forfeited in 1746). He became heir apparent to the earldom in 1815 on the death of his elder brother, Lord Hay. He was educated at Eton.^[2]

Political career

Erroll succeeded his father in the earldom in 1819, aged 18. In 1823 he was elected a Scottish Representative Peer and took his seat in the House of Lords. He was Master of the Horse to Queen Adelaide from 1830 to 1834. In 1831 he was sworn of the Privy Council and created Baron Kilmarnock, of Kilmarnock in the County of Ayr, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom,^[3] a revival of the Kilmarnock title held by his great-grandfather. When the Whigs came to power under Lord Melbourne in 1835, Erroll was appointed Master of the Buckhounds.^[4] In 1839 he was promoted to Lord Steward of the Household on the decease of the Duke of Argyll, a post he held until the administration fell in 1841.

Apart from his political career Lord Erroll was also Knight Marischal of Scotland from 1832 to 1846 and Lord-Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire from 1836 to 1846.^[5]

Family

Lord Erroll married Lady Elizabeth FitzClarence, the illegitimate daughter of William IV and Dorothy Jordan, on 4 December 1820. They were the parents of four children:^[6]

• Lady Ida Harriet Augusta Hay (18 October 1821 – 22 October 1867), one of the Queen's bridesmaids, married Charles Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough.
• William Harry Hay, 19th Earl of Erroll (3 May 1823 – 3 December 1891), married Eliza Amelia Gore on 20 September 1848.
• Lady Agnes Georgiana Elizabeth Hay (12 May 1829 – 18 December 1869), who married James Duff, 5th Earl Fife on 16 March 1846. Their son, Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife, married Princess Louise, daughter of King Edward VII.
• Lady Alice Mary Emily Hay (7 July 1835 – 7 June 1881) married Charles Edward Louis Casimir Stuart (1824–1882), nephew of fraud John Sobieski Stuart.

Lord Erroll died in London in April 1846, aged 45, and was succeeded by his eldest son, William. The Countess of Erroll died in January 1856, aged 54.

Ancestry

Ancestors of William Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll

16. William Boyd, 3rd Earl of Kilmarnock               8. William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock (1704–1746)                       17. Eupheme Ross               4. James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll (1772–1819)                             18. James Livingston, 5th Earl of Linlithgow               9. Lady Anne Livingston (1709–1747)                       19. Lady Margaret Hay of Erroll               2. William Hay, 17th Earl of Erroll                                   20. Sir Robert Carr               10.Sir William Carr (self-styled 8th Baronet Kerr, of Greenhead) (c. 1705 – 1777)                       5. Isabella Carr (1742–1808)                             1. William Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll                                         12. Samuel Eliot                       6. Samuel Eliot, esq., of Antigua                             3. Alicia Eliot (1778–1812)                                   14. William Byam                       7. Alice Byam (1746–1827)                             15. Anne Gunthorpe

References

1. Kidd, Charles (1990). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. David Williamson (1990 ed.). St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-04640-5.
2. Eton College; Henry Edward Chetwynd Stapylton (1863). The Eton school lists, from 1791 to 1850: every third year after 1793, with notes. E. P. Williams. p. 87.
3. The London Gazette: no. 18808. p. 1050. 31 May 1831.
4. The London Gazette: no. 19266. p. 857. 1 May 1835.
5. Taylor, James (1887). The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
6. Lodge, Edmund; Anne Innes; Eliza Innes; Maria Innes (1851). The Peerage of the British Empire as at Present Existing. Saunders and Otley. p. 222.

External links

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