Caroline Douglas (1821 – 1904) was a Marchioness of
Queensberry, and Irish nationalist benefactor.
Caroline Douglas was born Caroline Margaret Clayton in Ireland in 1821.
Her father was a former army general and MP for Marlow, Buckinghamshire,
England, Sir William Clayton, and Alice Clayton (née O'Donel). Her
mother was from County Mayo, and was a Catholic, despite this the
couple's four children were raised as Protestants. Douglas lived in
Bantry, County Cork until the age of 2, when the family moved to England
to the family seat of Harleyford House, Buckinghamshire. This house was
regularly visited by royalty and politicians, including Napoleon III.
Her father refused to give his consent for her to marry
Archibald
Douglas, Lord Drumlanrig, the couple eloped and married at Gretna Green
on 28 May 1840.
The couple went on to have 5 sons and two daughters: Gertrude,
John,
Francis,
Archibald, and twins James and
Florence. One son died in
infancy. Their marriage suffered due to Archibald's gambling and
adultery. He died in 1858 in a hunting accident, leaving Douglas to live
what has been described as a "restless life." She travelled between
fashionable resorts in Britain and Europe, or at the Douglas estate,
Glen Stuart, in Dumfries, Scotland. In 1861 Douglas converted to
Catholicism, shocking her family. She became aware that her
mother-in-law planned to take her children from her, prompting her to
flee to France and was granted official protection by her old
acquaintance Napoleon III. A number of her children also became Catholic
converts, with one son and one daughter taking holy orders. She returned
to England in 1864 when her mother-in-law's health started to decline.
Douglas always considered herself to be Irish, and caused scandal in
London society in 1867 when she raised money to aid in the defence of
the Manchester Martyrs. She wrote to all three men while they were in
prison, and sent a cheque of £100 for their dependants. She continued to
support Irish nationalism, regardless of the cold reception she received
in English society because of it. Douglas wrote pamphlets on the
subject, including the 1897 Let there be light. She also regularly
corresponded in the press about the Irish question, was a regular donor
to Irish radicals, and there were rumours she funded a Fenian newspaper
clandestinely.
Douglas supported a number of Scottish Catholic charities, aiding her
son Archibald in his parish duties. It is believed her corresponded with
James Connolly from 1896 to 1903, and was a subscriber to the Irish
Socialist Republican Party's literature. It had been incorrectly assumed
that Douglas became a nun later in life, due to a letter she wrote to
John Devoy from a Franciscan convent in Bayswater. However, she lived in
Boulogne in later life, living on a small annuity bequeathed to her by
her father. She died on 14 February 1904 at
Glen Stuart.
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