The Earl of Hopetoun

The accompanying text in the volume begins as follows:

"The immediate ancestor of the Earls of Hopetoun was Henry Hope, a merchant of considerable extent in Edinburgh, who married Jacquiline de Tott, a French lady, by whom he had two sons. The eldest, Thomas, was a considerable fortune, with which he made extensive landed purchases. He was appointed Lord Advocate by James VI., and created a Baronet in 1628. His grandson Charles was the first Earl of Hopetoun.

Henry, the second son, went to Amsterdam, and was the ancestor of that opulent branch of the family long settled there. James, third Earl, the subject of this sketch, was born in 1741. He entered the army when very young, and held an ensign's commission in the 3d regiment of foot guards. He was with the troops in Germany; and, when only eighteen years of age, was engaged at the memorable battle of Minden, in 1759, where the British infantry signally distinguished themselves. He continued in the same regiment till 1764, when he retired from the army, in consequence of the ill health of his elder brother, Lord Hope, with whom he travelled some time on the Continent, but without producing any beneficial change in the state of his health, and who died in 1766.

On the death of his father, in 1781, he succeeded to the earldom, and was chosen one of the sixteen representative Peers of Scotland at the general election in 1784. The Earl took an active part in all political questions, and continued to sit in the House of Lords during a great many succeeding years. On the death of his grand-uncle, the third Marquis of Annandale, in 1792, Lord Hopetoun succeeded to the large estates of that nobleman, on which occasion he added the sumname of Johnstone to his own.

On the breaking out of the French war in 1793, when seven regiments of fencibles were directed by his Majesty to be raised in Scotland, the Earl, who was firmly and sincerely attached to the British Constitution, stood forward in defence of his country, and embodied a corps called the Southern or Hopetoun Fencibles, of which he was appointed Colonel. The officers belonging to this regiment were men of the first rank and respectability: Lord Napier was Lieutenant-colonel; the veteran Clarkson, Major; the Earl of Home, Captain of Grenadiers; Mi Baillie of Mellerstain, and Mr M'Lean of Ardgower, Captains, &c. &c. The Earl assiduously attended to his military duties, and soon brought the discipline of the corps to great perfection. While the regiment was stationed at Dalkeith, several attempts were made, by some of the more desperate members of the British Convention, to seduce the soldiers from their allegiance, or at all events to sow the seeds of discontent among them; but without effect. The services of the Hopetoun Fencibles were at first limited to Scotland, but were afterwards extended to England. They remained embodied till 1798, when they were disbanded, after the regular militia had been organized.

His lordship afterwards, as Lord Lieutenant of the county of Linlithgow, embodied a yeomanry corps and a regiment of volunteer infantry, both of which were among the first that tendered their services to Government. These he commanded as Colonel, and took a deep interest and a very active part in training them, and rendering them efficient for the public service. During those times of alarm, when the country was threatened by foreign invasion, his influence, his fortune, and his personal exertions were steadily devoted to the public safety; and so much were his services appreciated by the Executive, that he was created a Baron of the United Kingdom in 1809, by the name, style, and title of Baron Hopetoun of Hopetoun.

The Earl died at Hopetoun-House, on the 29th May 1816, at the advanced age of 75. He married, in 1756, Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Northesk, by whom he had six daughters. They all died prior to himself, except Lady Anne, upon whom the Annandale estates devolved, and who married Admiral Sir William Johnstone."