The Earl of Seafield | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Elginshire | |
| In office 1790–1796 | |
| Preceded by | The Earl Fife |
| Succeeded by | James Brodie |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ludovick Alexander Grant 22 March 1767 Moy, Highland, Scotland |
| Died | 26 October 1840 (aged 73) Cullen House, Banffshire |
| Relations | Francis Ogilvy-Grant, 6th Earl of Seafield (brother) Henry Mackenzie (uncle) Alexander Penrose Cumming-Gordon (uncle) |
| Parent(s) | Sir James Grant, 8th Baronet Jean Duff |
| Education | Edinburgh High School Westminster School |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
Ludovick Alexander Ogilvy-Grant, 5th Earl of Seafield, FRSE (22 March 1767 – 26 October 1840) was a Scottish peer and Member of Parliament. He was Chief of Clan Grant. His promising career was cut short by mental instability.
Life
He was born Ludovick Alexander Grant[lower-alpha 1][1] at Moy near Inverness, the son of Sir James Grant, 8th Baronet and Jean Duff (1746–1805).[2] He was christened at Dyke a few days later.[2]
He was educated at Edinburgh High School and Westminster School, then studied law at the University of Edinburgh and Lincoln's Inn in London.[3]
Career
In 1788 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Dugald Stewart, James Gregory, and Andrew Dalzell.[4]
He was elected to the House of Commons for Elginshire in 1790, a seat he held until 1796. From 1791 his health began to fail and by 1805 he was described as being a "most hopeless case of mental derangement".[3] In 1794 he was diagnosed as incurable but did not surrender his seat as an MP until 1796.
In February 1811 he succeeded his father as ninth Baronet of Colquhoun. Eight months later, in October 1811, he became the fifth Earl of Seafield on the death of his second cousin James Ogilvy, 7th Earl of Findlater and 4th Earl of Seafield. Seafield was the grandson of Lady Margaret Ogilvy, daughter of the prominent statesman James Ogilvy, 4th Earl of Findlater and 1st Earl of Seafield. However, he was not in remainder to the earldom of Findlater which title became extinct. He assumed the additional surname of Ogilvy on succeeding in the earldom.
Personal life
Lord Seafield never married. He died at Cullen House in Banffshire on 26 October 1840, aged 73, and was buried in the Mausoleum in Duthil Old Parish Church and Churchyard. He was succeeded by his younger brother Francis William Ogilvy-Grant who had already taken over all practical duties and curatorship of the estates from the point of his mental instability.
His uncles included Henry Mackenzie and Alexander Penrose Cumming-Gordon.
Notes
- ↑ His first name is often recorded (posthumously) as "Lewis", which was an anglicised form of the Scottish "Ludovick". Furthermore, his surname was originally spelt "Grant-Ogilvy" when he assumed by royal licence the additional name of Ogilvy (also spelt Ogilvie) upon succeeding as Earl of Seafield.
References
- ↑ Brodie, Alexander (1769). Alexander Brodie, Appellant; Sir Alexander Grant, Sir Ludovick Grant, Sir William Dunbar, Duncan Urquhart, and Their Lessees, Respondents, Et E Contra: Case of the Respondents in the Original and Appellant's in the Cross Appeal. p. 91.
- 1 2 "Sir Lewis Alexander GRANT 5th Earl of Seafield". Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
- 1 2 "GRANT, Lewis Alexander (1767-1840), of Castle Grant, Elgin. | History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- ↑ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X.