George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus

George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus, Lord Douglas, Abernethy and Jedburgh Forest (c. 1427 – 12 March 1463) was a Scottish nobleman. He was the son of William Douglas, 2nd Earl of Angus and Margaret Hay of Yester. Known as the Great Earl of Angus, he succeeded to the Earldom following the death of his childless brother James Douglas, 3rd Earl of Angus in 1446. He was to become the first Red Chief of Douglas.

The chief line of the family were the Earls of Douglas which represented the "Black" line, whereas Angus represented the "Red" Line. Both branches were descended through bastardy from William the Hardy, Lord of Douglas. The Earl of Douglas descended through Archibald the Grim, an illegitimate son of Sir James Douglas. The 4th Earl of Angus' grandfather was an illegitimate child of William, 1st Earl of Douglas.

Although the representatives of both lines of the House wore the "three stars argent" and "Man's Heart gules" on their arms the 4th Earl of Angus and the 8th Earl of Douglas were third cousins. Angus had closer ties with the House of Stewart than his Douglas cousins however, being the great-grandson of Robert III of Scotland through his grandmother Princess Mary of Scotland, Countess of Angus. This was to have major implications in the downfall of the Black Douglases and the rise of the Red line.

In June 1448, Angus joined with his kinsmen the Earl of Douglas and his brother Hugh Douglas, Earl of Ormonde on a punitive raid into England and despoiled the countryside as far as Alnwick which they burnt and "come hame wele". This was in response to attacks led by the Earl of Northumberland and Robert Ogle in which they had burnt Dunbar Castle in the east, and by the Earl of Salisbury who had laid waste to Dumfries in the west. The score was evened in July when the Douglases invested Warkworth Castle and "did gret scaith" and the victory over Northumberland at the Battle of Sark.

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