196 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. LXXXI.
THE EARL OF HOPETOUN,
WITH A DISTANT VIEW OF THE HOPETOUN FENCIBLES.
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 bred
a lawyer ; and, by his eminent talents, obtained great practice and amassed 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.
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 surname 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 ; Mr.
Bailie of Mellerstain, and Mr. M'Lean of Ardgower, Captains, etc. etc. 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
JAMBthSir,d Earl, the subject of this sketch, was born in 1741.
