Dalrymple, John, 2nd Earl of Stair (1673 -1747)

John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, was the second son of John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair, and Elizabeth, daughter and heir of John Dundas of Newliston, and grandson of James Dalrymple of Stair, Viscount Stair, and Margaret, eldest daughter and coheir of James Ross of Balneil. While a mere boy he accidentally shot and killed his elder brother. Educated privately and at the Universities of Leiden and Edinburgh, he was sent into Holland to serve under William III in 1687, when only fourteen. He served as a volunteer with the Regiment of Angus in the campaign of 1692, and accompanied Lord Lexington's embassy to Vienna in 1700. A Lieutenant Colonel of the Scots Guards in 1701, he was made a Brigadier by Marlborough in 1706. He was Ambassador Extraordinary to Poland 1710 1713, Lord of the Bedchamber 1714, Commander in Chief of North Britain, and a representative peer 1715. Ambassador to the Court of Versailles in 1715, and Lord Admiral of Scotland 1730 1733, he was an agricultural improver, a Field Marshal, and Ambassador to the States General in 1742.