All Blog Posts (945)

Hi William I enjoyed your newsletter. What you have achieved is remarkable. I have a question for you and it is unrelated to Douglas. In the early 1940s I had a friend from Scotland and I lost touch with him. It is possible that my friend and you crossed the same paths. May I mention his name to you? Henry

As stated previously, my maiden name was Morton and my great-grandfather (George Morton), and all the Mortons before him, were Scottish. Morton, being a sept or allied family of Douglas, has always given me a sense of belonging to Douglas. As I've been researching my family history, though, I've found ancestors from Auchterlonys to Youngs and a lot of things in between. There are at least 43 (possible) clans within the family history I've traced so far. It's a lot to digest. However, what…

Mary F Stafford/Horn and Robert Morton, my grandparents. Robert was the son of George Morton and was the first Morton born in England in my line. George Morton was born in Dumfries-shire but his father had been born in Loudoun Ayrshire, as had many generations before. My research indicated he was descended from John Morton (1748) from Loudoun and Mary Sandylands (1751) there are several earlier John Mortons as well, but the Sandylands line is difficult to follow.

Through marriage into…

On this day 19 July 1333 saw the Battle of Halidon Hill at Berwick, where an English army, led by Edward III and Edward Balliol, defeated the Scots forces under the command of Sir Archibald Douglas  ('Tyneman').

The defeat was mainly down to the English archers who devastated the Scottish ranks, inflicting terrible losses, including six…

Last week, I was helping a researcher who was looking for details of C K M Douglas.

Today there has been a "meteorological tsunami" - meteotsunami in Spain - a phrase coined by C K M Douglas who was a meteorologist.…

Ian Douglas has been fascinated by Scottish history for over forty years. He has just published a short biography of Mary, “Mary Queen of Scots – a Brief History” and is the author of “Exploring History in the Scottish…

On the tombstone, in St Magnus Cathedral, of George Douglas, who died 1611, and Elizabeth Douglas, his spouse, who died 1630, is a shield bearing :—Quarterly, first and fourth, three piles; second and third, a heart ; over all as many mullets

in fess.

Who was he?

The Douglas family played a significant tole in Orkney in the 17th and 18th centuries,…

Look at who owned this Douglas plate!

https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/a-chinese-export-armorial-porcelain-charger-and-6018488-details.aspx…

I am having a horrible time connecting my Douglass lineage. I am going to Scotland in September and would love some help. 

The last Douglass I am sure of is William W Douglass, b. abt 1755 in Lancaster Co., PA and d. Nov 1792, Madison Co., KY. He was married to Jane Moore, b. 1762, Lancaster Co.,  PA and d. 1830, Boone, MO. Any help with connecting me to ancestors in Scotland is appreciated, thank you Judy

The new exhibition opened last week at the Annan Museum which covers the life and times of Lady Florence Dixie.

Lady Florence is remembered most for her association with women's football.  As president of the British Ladies Football Club she helped give the game a high profile.  The exhibition also takes a fresh look at her life and legacy including her trips to Patagonia and in Southern Africa to report on the Boar War and her political activity in woman's suffrage and dress…

It is with sadness I record the death of Jan Shaw, on 10th June.

Jan was for many years to President of the Clan Douglas Association of Australia, and before that the newsletter editor.

Her knowledge of Douglas matters, her support of Douglas heritage and her friendship will be missed by many.

Her funeral service will be at St Mary's Anglican Church,…

You may have noticed strange behaviour with the Douglas Archives database.

There appears to be a problem with my web service provider that is affecting both email and the database. We are working on this. Meanwhile the revised database has wiped the older version, but not replaced it.

Boring!

Yours aye,

William

I am informed that Douglas in Hebrew means "Distinguished Man".

Doogle= distinguished, eesh= man.

Could it be that Douglas came from Danite Celts?

Hard to prove, but an interesting coincidence. Do any of my distinguished friends have any thoughts on this?

And Urban Dictionary has a rather different definition!

I have been offered ephemera relating to Admiral Douglas's house Seafield in Walmer. Would anyone be interested in this?

Admiral Robert Gordon Douglas(1829-1910), descendant of James, 4th Earl of Morton, was the son of Commander John Douglas, JP, RN, and Robina MacDonell. He had at least one son, James Sholto Gordon Douglas, and a daughter Madeline Gordon Douglas.

The…

Prince Henry, KCVO (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984), also known as Prince Harry, is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, and is sixth in the line of succession to the British throne.

Today, 19th May 2018, on the occasion of his…

Sir William Douglas, Lord of Liddesdale (circa. 1300-k.1353) was also known as the Knight of Liddesdale and the Flower of Chivalry. He was a Scottish nobleman and soldier active during the Second War of Scottish…

The following helpful guide was contributed by the late Norman Douglas of Dundarroch to a Clan Douglas Association of Australia newsletter some years ago. It bears reprinting.

When searching through records or gravestones in Scotland, it is common to find a person described either 'of', a place or 'in' a place or 'at' a place. These words are of considerable…

Several of the illustrations used in the Douglas Archives were created by Andrew Hillhouse, who died on Sunday 16th April 2018.

Andrew worked as a technician in the School of Landscape Architecture, ESALA, Edinburgh University. He drew, painted and illustrated in his spare time depicting, predominantly but not exclusively, various periods of Scottish…