Maitland, John, 1st Duke of Lauderdale (1616 -1682)

John Maitland, 2nd Earl of Lauderdale, was born 24 May 1616, the eldest surviving son of John 2nd Lord Maitland of Lethington, created 1st Earl of Lauderdale in 1624, and Isabel Seton, second daughter of Alexander, Earl of Dunfermline. Lauderdale was a zealous supporter of the royal cause during the Civil War. He was captured at the Battle of Worcester and imprisoned in the Tower and at Windsor, and only released in 1660 at the instance of General Monck. He took part in the negotiations for the Restoration, and afterwards served Charles II as Secretary of State for Scotland, He was created Marquess of March and Duke of Lauderdale in the peerage of Scotland in 1672. In 1674 was created a Knight of the Garter and Baron Petersham and Earl of Guildford in the peerage of England. He married twice, firstly, Anne, second daughter of the 1st Earl of Hume, by whom he had a daughter, Mary, who married the 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale. His wife died 1671. He married secondly, 17 February 1672, Elizabeth, daughter of William Murray, 1st Earl of Dysart, and widow of Sir Lionel Tollemache 3rd Baronet, but had no male heir. On his death August 1682, the Dukedom and his English peerages became extinct, his brother succeeding to the Earldom which had been his father's. Stamp 1, which he used between 1645 and 1672, was the last of his father's armorial stamps.