Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Douglas, William Alexander Anthony Archibald

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1246364Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 15 — Douglas, William Alexander Anthony Archibald1888Lloyd Charles Sanders

DOUGLAS, WILLIAM ALEXANDER ANTHONY ARCHIBALD, eleventh Duke of Hamilton (1811–1863), was the son of Alexander Douglas, the tenth duke [q. v.], and inherited his other numerous titles. He was born on 19 Feb. 1811, was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford (B.A. 1832), and succeeded to the titles and estates on the death of his father in 1852. The duke was knight marischal of Scotland, colonel of the Lanarkshire militia, lord-lieutenant of the county in succession to his father, deputy-lieutenant of the county of Bute, major-commandant of the Glasgow yeomanry from 1849 to 1857, and grand master of the society of freemasons. He married on 22 Feb. 1843 her Serene Highness the Princess Marie Amélie, youngest daughter of the Grand Duke of Baden, and cousin of the Emperor Napoleon III. After his marriage he lived chiefly in Paris and Baden, and was frequently a guest at the Tuileries, taking very little interest in British politics. He died on 8 July 1863 from the effects of a fall after a supper at the Maison Dorée, Boulevard des Italiens, Paris, leaving two children, William Alexander, the present duke, and Lady Mary Hamilton, who married the Prince of Monaco in 1869, but their marriage was declared invalid in 1880. In the year after his death the title of Duke of Châtelherault, disputed by the Duke of Abercorn, was confirmed to the Dukes of Hamilton by a fresh creation made by the Emperor Napoleon III (Lodge, Peerage).

[Gent. Mag. 1863, new ser. xv. 237.]

L. C. S.