John Kennedy-Erskine
The Honourable John Kennedy-Erskine of Dun was an English landowner who married a daughter of King William IV.
Early life
Kennedy-Erskine was born on 4 June 1802. He was the son of Archibald Kennedy, 1st Marquess of Ailsa and Erskine of Dun. Among his siblings were Archibald Kennedy, Earl of Cassillis, Lady Anne Kennedy, Lady Mary Kennedy, Lady Margaret Kennedy, and Lady Alicia Jane Kennedy.His paternal grandparents were Archibald Kennedy, 11th Earl of Cassillis, and, his second wife, Anne Watts. His grandfather was previously married to Katherine Schuyler. Through his elder brother, he was uncle to Archibald Kennedy, who later succeeded Kennedy-Erskine's father as the 2nd Marquess of Ailsa in 1846. His maternal grandparents were John Erskine and Mary Baird of Newbyth.
Career
Kennedy-Erskine served as a captain with the 16th Lancers, and was made an equerry to his father-in-law, King William IV, in 1830.In 1824, after inheriting the Dun estate in Angus, Scotland from his unmarried aunt, he assumed the additional name of Erskine and who matriculated Arms at the Lyon Office in 1828. The manor house, known as the House of Dun, was designed by William Adam and was finished in 1743. His wife was responsible for some internal re-modeling of the House. The House remained in the family until 1980 when their descendant, Millicent Lovett, the last Laird of Dun, who bequeathed it to the National Trust for Scotland upon her death.
Personal life
On 5 July 1827, Kennedy-Erskine married Lady Augusta FitzClarence. The fourth illegitimate daughter of King William IV and Dorothea Jordan, Augusta grew up at their Bushy House residence in Teddington and had four sisters and five brothers all surnamed FitzClarence. Soon after their father became monarch in June 1830, the FitzClarence children were raised to the ranks of younger children of a marquess. Together, they were the parents of:- William Henry Kennedy-Erskine, a Captain in the 17th Lancers; he married Catherine Jones, daughter of William Jones of Henllys, Carmarthenshire, in 1862.
- Wilhelmina "Mina" Kennedy-Erskine, who married his first cousin, William FitzClarence, 2nd Earl of Munster, son of George FitzClarence, 1st Earl of Munster and Mary Wyndham, in 1855.
- Augusta Anne "Millicent" Mary Kennedy-Erskine, who married James Hay Erskine-Wemyss, son of Rear-Admiral James Erskine Wemyss and Lady Emma Hay, in 1855.
Descendants
Through his son William, he was posthumously a grandfather of the writer and poet Violet Augusta Mary Frederica Kennedy-Erskine, a writer who married Arthur Otway Jacob, an Irish major in the British Army.Through his eldest daughter Mina, he was posthumously a grandfather of Major Geoffrey FitzClarence, 3rd Earl of Munster, Aubrey FitzClarence, 4th Earl of Munster, and Hon. Harold Edward FitzClarence.
Through his youngest daughter Millicent, he was posthumously a grandfather of Mary Frances Erskine Wemyss, Dora Mina Erskine Wemyss, Randolph Gordon Erskine Wemyss, Hugo Erskine Wemyss, and Rosslyn Wemyss, 1st Baron Wester Wemyss.