Earl of Selkirk

Earl of Selkirk is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. Its descent is subject to unusual (and unique) provisions.

The title was created on 4 August 1646 for Lord William Douglas, third son of William Douglas, 1st Marquess of Douglas, along with the title Lord Daer and Shortcleuch. On 29 April 1656, the first Earl married Anne Hamilton, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton. In 1660, after the birth of two sons, he changed his surname from Douglas to "Hamilton", and was created Duke of Hamilton for life, as was then a not uncommon practice in Scotland when a peeress in her own right married someone of lesser degree.

On 6 October 1688, during the reign of James VII, the new Duke of Hamilton surrendered his previous titles to the Crown (except Hamilton). They were reconferred on his third (but second surviving) son Charles Douglas, 2nd Earl of Selkirk, who thereby became 2nd Earl of Selkirk, and who also reverted to his original surname of "Douglas". Thus, while the eldest son was to inherit the title of Duke of Hamilton and have his mother's maiden name for surname, the younger son was to inherit his father's dignities and perpetuate the name of Douglas.

This novodamus for this arrangement embodied a unique remainder, the effect of which was that:

This remainder is so unusual that a Scottish country dance—Hamilton House—was created around it.

The 2nd Earl died childless in 1739, and his younger brother, John Hamilton, 1st Earl of Ruglen (who had been so created on 14 April 1697), succeeded as 3rd Earl. He outlived his son and heir, and when he died in 1744 the Earldom of Ruglen and its subsidiary titles passed to his daughter Anne Douglas, Countess of March, and on her death in 1748 to William Douglas, 3rd Earl of March (later 4th Duke of Queensberry).

The Earldom of Selkirk and its subsidiary title, being limited to male heirs, passed to Dunbar Hamilton, grandson of Lord Basil Hamilton, sixth son of the 1st Earl. Upon succeeding as 4th Earl, he, like the 2nd Earl, changed his surname to "Douglas". On his death in 1799, he was succeeded by his only surviving son, Thomas Douglas, Lord Daer, as 5th Earl, and he was then succeeded on his death in 1820 by his only son, Dunbar Douglas, Lord Daer, as 6th Earl.

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