MARQUESSES OF

TWEEDDALE  . JOHN HAY, 2ND EARL and 1ST MARQUESS OF TWEEDDALE (1626-1697), was the eldest son of John, 8th Lord Hay of Yester (c . 1599-1654), created earl of Tweeddale in 1646, who was the grandson of William Lord Hay of Yester (d . 1576), one of the partisans of Mary Queen of Scots, and thus a descendant of John Hay of Yester (Haddingtonshire) who was created a lord of the Scottish parliament in 1488 and died about 1500 . Before succeeding to the peerage in 1654 the second earl fought for Charles I. during the Civil War, but he soon transferred his allegiance, and was in the Scottish ranks at Marston Moor . Changing sides again, he was with the royalists at Preston; but he was a member of Cromwell's parliament in 1656, and was imprisoned just after the restoration of Charles II . He was soon, however, in the king's favour, and in 1663 was appointed president of the Scottish council, and in 1664 an extraordinary lord of session . In Scotland he sought to mitigate the harshness shown by the English government to the Covenanters, and for this attitude he was dismissed from his offices in 1674; but he regained an official position in 168o and held it during the reign of James II . A supporter of William of Orange, he was made lord high chancellor of Scotland in 1692, and two years later was created marquess of Tweeddale and earl of Gifford . He favoured the scheme for the expedition to Darien, and as lord high commissioner during William's absence he formally assented to the act establishing the trading company in 1695; for this action he was dismissed from office when the king returned to England in 1696 . He died on the 11th of August 1697 . His son JOHN, 2ND MARQUESS OF TWEEDDALE (1645-1713), was prominent in Scottish politics during the stormy period which preceded the union with England .

After acting for a

time with the national party he became the leader of the squadrone volante, a band of men who at first took up an independent attitude on the question, but afterwards supported the union . For a very short time he was lord chancellor of Scotland, and he was one of the first of the Scottish representative peers . He died on the 2oth of April 1713 . His eldest son, CHARLES (c . 1670-1715), became 3rd marquess; a younger son, Lord JOHN HAY (d . 1706), commanded the famous regiment of dragoons, afterwards called the Scots Greys, at the battle of Ramillies and elsewhere .