Scott, James, Duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch (1649 -1685)

James Crofts, Duke of Monmouth was the illegitimate son of Charles II, and Lucy, daughter of Richard Walters of Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire. After the Restoration he was acknowledged by the King as his son, and was made Duke of Monmouth, Earl of Doncaster, and Baron Tyndale on 14 February 1663, and a Knight of the Garter on 28 March. He married, 20 April 1663, Anne Scott, Countess of Buccleuch in her own right. Before the wedding he changed his name to Scott. On the same day, he and his wife were created Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch. Captain of the King's Life Guards of Horse 1668, and Captain General of the Forces 1670, he served at the Siege of Maestricht. In 1674 he was made, by royal letter, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. A staunch Protestant, he was very unpopular with the King's Brother, James Duke of York. He was sent to Scotland in 1679 to quell the revolt after the murder of the Archbishop of St Andrews, in which he succeeded at the Battle of Bothwell Brigg. He was implicated in a plot for the assassination of his father and uncle, and went into exile in the Netherlands. After his father's death he led a revolt against James II, in the Protestant interest, was captured and executed 15 July 1685, and his honours forfeit, but those of his wife were unaffected by the attainder. Duplicates from the Buccleuch library were sold at Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge on the 25 March 1889, and a further part of the library at Sotheby & Co's Hodgson's Rooms 17 March 1971.