Hugh Montgomerie, 12th Earl of Eglinton
Encyclopedia
Order of the Thistle
The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The current version of the Order was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland who asserted that he was reviving an earlier Order...
(5 November 1739 – 14 December 1819) was a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
peer
Peerage of Scotland
The Peerage of Scotland is the division of the British Peerage for those peers created in the Kingdom of Scotland before 1707. With that year's Act of Union, the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England were combined into the Kingdom of Great Britain, and a new Peerage of Great Britain was...
, politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. He was the grandfather of Archibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton
Archibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton
Sir Archibald William Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton KT, PC , known as Lord Montgomerie from 1814 to 1819, was a British Conservative politician...
.
Montgomerie was styled Lord Montgomerie from 1769, and sat as a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Ayrshire
Ayrshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Ayrshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1868, when it was divided into North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire....
off and on from 1780 to 1796. That year he became Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire
Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire
This is a list of people who served as Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire, Scotland.*Archibald Montgomerie, 11th Earl of Eglinton 17 March 1794 – 30 October 1796*Hugh Montgomerie, 12th Earl of Eglinton 23 November 1796 – 14 December 1819...
, which post he held until his death. In 1798, having previously succeeded to the earldom through his third cousin, he was elected a representative peer
Representative peer
In the United Kingdom, representative peers were those peers elected by the members of the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords...
and moved to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. In 1806 he was created Baron Ardrossan in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Peerage of the United Kingdom
The Peerage of the United Kingdom comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Act of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain...
, enabling him to sit the Lords in his own right. He was made a Knight of the Thistle
Order of the Thistle
The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The current version of the Order was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland who asserted that he was reviving an earlier Order...
in 1814.
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
due to silting of the River Clyde
River Clyde
The River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....
, Montgomerie promoted and partially funded the Glasgow, Paisley and Ardrossan Canal
Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal
The Glasgow, Paisley and Ardrossan Canal was a canal in the west of Scotland, running between Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone which later became a railway. Despite the name, the canal was never completed down to Ardrossan, the termini being Port Eglinton in Glasgow and Thorn Brae in Johnstone...
. However funds ran out and the canal was only constructed from Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
to Johnstone
Johnstone
Johnstone is a town in the council area of Renfrewshire and larger historic county of the same name in the west central Lowlands of Scotland.The town lies three miles west of neighbouring Paisley and twelve miles west of the centre of the city of Glasgow...
via Paisley. The Glasgow terminus of the canal was at Port Eglinton. Though the wharf is now filled in, the neighbouring Eglinton Street still bears his name. Preparatory work on the canal from the new harbour created at Ardrossan was used as the basis for Glasgow Street, which is the main thoroughfare of the town.
Montgomerie was an amateur composer and cellist
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
. His best known work is the dance tune "Ayrshire Lasses", and other composers dedicated works to him, including Thomas Arne and John Turnbull
John Turnbull
John Turnbull is an English pop and rock guitarist and singer.He has played in bands such as Skip Bifferty, The Chosen Few, Arc, Loving Awareness, Glencoe, Nick Lowe, Dave Stewart and the Spiritual Cowboys, Eurythmics, Talk Talk, Londonbeat, Paul Young, Bob Geldof, World Party, Kaos Band and Ian...
.