George Hay, 7th Marquess of Tweeddale


George Hay, 7th Marquess of Tweeddale, DL was a Bombay Marine officer who served as the Lord Lieutenant of Haddingtonshire from 1794 to 1804.

Early life

Hay was born at Newhall in East Lothian, Scotland. He was the son of John Hay and Dorothy Hay. His siblings included William Hay, Edward Hay-Mackenzie of Newhall, Dorothea Hay, and Margaret Hay.
His maternal grandfather was John Hayhurst, a labourer who lived at Quernmore, Lancaster. His paternal grandparents were Brig.-Gen. Lord William Hay, of Newham and Margaret Hay. He was a great-grandson of John Hay, 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale and the former Lady Mary Maitland.

Career

Hay served as an officer in the East India Company's Bombay Marine.
In 1787 he inherited the titles of his first cousin once-removed, the 6th Marquess. He then became a Burgess of Edinburgh a year later, Lord Lieutenant of Haddingtonshire in 1794, and a Scottish representative peer in 1796.

Personal life

On 18 April 1785, he married Lady Hannah Maitland, a daughter of James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale and the former Mary Turner Lombe. Together, George and Hannah were the parents of eleven children, including:
As a result of the marquess's declining health, he and his wife went to travel on the Continent in 1802, starting in France. It was there that they were arrested by French police a year later with other British subjects when war was renewed between the two countries in May 1803. They were then imprisoned in the fortress at Verdun and the marchioness died there on 8 May 1804, as did the marquess during the following August on 9 August 1804.