Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl of Balcarres

Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl of Balcarres and de jure 23rd Earl of Crawford (18 January 1752 – 27 March 1825) was the son of James Lindsay, 5th Earl of Balcarres. He was a general in the British Army.

He entered the army at the age of fifteen as an ensign, in the 53rd Regiment of Foot. After attending Eton College, he studied at the University of Göttingen for two years, and subsequently purchased a captaincy in the 42nd Highland Regiment in 1771. In 1777, he was appointed a major of the 53rd, and he commanded the light infantry companies at the Battle of Saratoga (1777), and surrendered there with Burgoyne. He was released from captivity in 1779.

Around this time he founded the famous Haigh Ironworks with his partners, his brother Robert and James Corbett.

On 1 June 1780, he married his first cousin, Elizabeth Bradshaigh Dalrymple, who had inherited Haigh Hall, in Haigh near Wigan,Lancashire. They had five children:

Promoted lieutenant-colonel of the 42nd during his imprisonment, he was subsequently promoted to the rank of colonel and made lieutenant-colonel commandant of the second 71st Regiment of Foot, a battalion of the 71st uninvolved in the surrender at Yorktown (as was the rest of the regiment). He was chosen a representative peer for Scotland in 1784, and was re-elected through 1807, inclusive. On 27 August 1789 he was appointed colonel of the 63rd Regiment of Foot, and was promoted major-general in 1793.

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