| He early entered the army. In August 1761, he was appointed Falconer to the King, for Scotland. He was an intimate friend of the unfortunate Earl of Kilmarnock, who suffered with others for the attempt to restore the house of Stuart. He attended him to the scaffold, and, it is said, held a corner of the cloth to receive his Lead; he afterwards performed the last sad office of friendship, by getting him interred. For the public exhibition he then made, he was put to the bottom of the army list. He rose to be Major-Cammandant of the 115th Regiment of Foot, and latterly to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel in the army. He was present at the battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy, where he distinguished himself.5 |
| He died unmarried, settling his estate, by a deed made on his death-bed, upon; Thomas Coutts, banker in London. His aunt and nearest heir, however, Mrs Elizabeth Craufurd, instituted an action of reduction of this settlement, and after a long litigation, carried on by her and her successor, the deed was reduced by a decree of the House of Lords in 1806, by which the succession to this ancient estate returned into its natural channel.6 |