Archibald Kennedy, 1st Marquess of Ailsa

Archibald Kennedy, 1st Marquess of Ailsa KT, FRS (February 1770 – 8 September 1846), styled Lord Kennedy between 1792 and 1794 and known as The Earl of Cassilis between 1794 and 1831, was a Scottish peer.

Kennedy was the eldest son of Archibald Kennedy, 11th Earl of Cassilis, by Anne, daughter of John Watts and descendant of the Schuyler family, the Van Cortlandt family (including Stephanus Van Cortlandt), and the Delancey family of British North America. He became known by the courtesy title Lord Kennedy when his father succeeded to the earldom of Cassilis in 1792.

Kennedy succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father 30 December 1794. He sat in the House of Lords as a Scottish Representative Peer between 1796 and 1806. In the latter year he was created Baron Ailsa, of Ailsa in the County of Ayr, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which entitled him to an automatic seat in the House of Lords. He was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society on 18 February 1819. In 1831 he was created Marquess of Ailsa, of the Isle of Ailsa in the County of Ayr. He voted for the Reform Bill in 1832.

Lord Ailsa married Margaret Erskine, the second daughter of John Erskine of Dun, Forfarshire, on 1 June 1793. They had six children:

Lord Ailsa died in 1846 and was succeeded by his grandson, Archibald Kennedy.

Lord Ailsa bought a house near Twickenham in London that had previously belonged to the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. He named it "St Margaret's" and the name of the house has now been applied to the whole adjacent area. Ailsa Road and Ailsa Avenue in the area are also named after him.

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