GRAHAM, JAMES [SSNE 1523]

Surname

GRAHAM, MONTROSE, MONS ROSARUM

First name

JAMES

Text source

James Graham, Fifth Earl and first Marquis of Montrose was the son of John, Fourth Earl of Gowrie. James studied at Glasgow University from 1624-7, and from January 1627 at St. Andrews. He married Magdalene Carnegie, daughter of Lord Carnegie, (later Earl of Southesk) in 1629. Montrose travelled on the Continent for several years between 1633-6. During the growing unrest in Scotland at the end of the 1630s, he signed the National Covenant and took part in the operation to kidnap Huntly. After the treaty opf London, Montrose adopted a more Royalist position and sided with Charles I from 1641 onwards. Charles I appointed him Lieutenant General in Scotland February 1644, after which he was created Marquis of Montrosee in May 1644. Along with the military leader, Lt General Alasdair Macdonald (Alasdair MacColla), he led a brilliant campaign in Highland Scotland during 1644-5, but failed to pacify the Lowlands. After being defeated by General David Leslie, Montrose scaped by sea to Bergen on 31/8/1646 and arrived in Oslo by 10 September. He was said to have taken employment with Christian IV, as he was still in Denmark in December 1646, though no record of that has been found. He remained in exile, and was later appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Scotland by Charles II on 4/3/1649. He also served as Charles II's envoy to Frederik III in 1649 during which time he also visited Oldenburg and dispatched envoys to other cities and states. Along with these other Scottish agents he collected money and troops in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. He personally arrived Gothenburg on 15/11/1649 from Copenhagen where 200 men levied in Denmark joined him in December. Montrose sailed for Orkney at the end of 1649 from where he launched an ill-conceived campaign on the Scottish mainland. His forces were defeated at Invercarron in 1650, again by General David Leslie. He did not evade capture for long and was delivered up to the government and executed in May 1650.

N. Nicolaysen (ed.), Norske Magasin, skrifter og optegnelser angaaende Norge og forfattede efter reformationen, vol. II (Christiania, 1868), p.212, note from 10 September 1646; HMC, Earl of Mar and Kellie, p.204, Lord Napier of Marchistoun to Mar 14/12/1646; L. Bittner and L. Gross, Reportorium der diplomatischen vertreter aller lander, vol. 1, 1648-1715 (Oldenburg and Berlin, 1936), pp.183, 194; DNB; T. Riis, Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot (Odense, 1988), II, pp.61-2; J. Berg & B. Lagercrantz, Scots in Sweden (Stockholm, 1962), pp.50-1; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), p.45.

Service record

STUART KINGDOMS, DENMARK-NORWAY, BERGEN, OSLO, COPENHAGEN

Capacity REFUGEE, purpose MISC.

STUART KINGDOMS, OLDENBURG

Departed 1649-09-05

Capacity ENVOY, AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY

STUART KINGDOMS, COPENHAGEN

Departed 1649-11-10

Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY

STUART KINGDOMS, GOTHENBERG

Departed 1649-12-31, as GENERAL

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY

STUART KINGDOMS, STUART ARMY IN SCOTLAND

Departed 1650-12-31, as LT. GOVERNOR

Capacity GOVERNOR, purpose MILITARY