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Douglas of Baads
This page is a stub. I would welcome help re-writing it.
Leonard Douglas acquired the estate of Baads in Midlothian and became known as 'of Baads'.
Leonard Douglas got a charter of the Lands of the Baddis, part of the barony of Calder, from Sir John Sandilands to himself in lliferent and William his third son, in fee, dated 16th of April 1551.
It was probably about this time that their first house on the estate was built. In the History of West Calder it is said to have stood to the west of the road to Carnwath, near Baads Mill, although there is no trace of any building having stood there. On John Adair’s map of 1735, Baads House is shown in a north-westerly direction from Little Harwood. This map was surveyed in 1680, and an earlier map, that by a Dutchman Domed Blaeu, was printed in 1654, showed Baads to be situated west of Muirhousedykes, which was wrong.
Leonard Douglas had three or more sons. The third, named William, succeeded. He married Jean Bruce, daughter of Bruce of Clackmannan, a lineal descendent of Robert the Bruce. This William is mentioned in the proceedings of the Baron Court of Calder Comitis. This court passed a decree on 19th April, 1586, that all men of the Barony had to possess horse, armour, and servants, to attend upon the Laird, and to follow him into any battle. It gives a list of names, among them “William Douglas of Baddis”. William’s son, Joseph, who inherited Baads, was an elder of Mid Calder Church, and is buried in the churchyard there. His tombstone, which is the oldest that is decipherable, reads: “T.S. I.W. Heir lyth Joseph Douglas of Badds who departed this lyfe the 20 day of Aprile Anno dom 1636.” Baads remained in the family til William Douglas renunciated it in 1720, when it passed to his brother, Col Walter Douglas, who sold it. He was one of seven sons of William Douglas of Baads (d. 1705) and his wife, Joan, daughter of James Mason of Park, Blantyre. Another of his brothers was the surgeon John Douglas (d. 1743), a fourth, James, (1675-1742) a physician and anatomist. However, in 1787, it was bought back by Alexander Douglas of Baads (1731-1787). He was the son of Reverend Alexander Douglas and Isabel Houston. He married Elizabeth Taylor on 26 September 1765. He died in 1787.
It was probably this Rev Alexander whose daughter Isobel married Sir James Douglas, British Consul at Naples, who died there on 6 May 1795. (But note this is disputed)
William Douglas of Baads, died 1705. He married Joan, daughter of James Mason of Park of Blantyre. Their sixth son, Rev. Alexander Douglas, was Minister of Skirling 1718, and of East Calder 1725. he died 8th September 1749, in thirty-second year of his ministry. He married, 22nd April 1726, Isabel, second daughter of Andrew Houston of Calderhall. She died 4th June 1775 (Scott's Fasti). He left issue : {a) John Douglas, surgeon. {b) Alexander Douglas of Finsbury Square, London, born 1731. He reacquired Baads in 1787, and entailed it. He married Miss Taylor, and died 31st August 1797, leaving issue : {a) George Douglas. He bought Chilston, in Kent, and succeeded to Baads. He died unmarried in 1833. (b) Robert Douglas, predeceased his brother without issue. {c) Isabel Douglas, married Robert Houston, and her descendants possessed Baads from 1833 till 1873.
It was still in the family in 1852 when Elizabeth Douglas(3) succeeded. She died in 1873, unmarried. The estate then passed to her cousin James Douglas Stoddart, who changed his name to James Douglas Douglas of Baads. James' grandfather had married Mary, daughter of Rev Alexander Douglas, son of William Douglas of Baads and Joan Mason.
The family tree is in the genealogy section.
Isabel Douglas, daughter of Alexander Douglas of Finsbury Square,
London, married Robert Houston, and her descendants possessed Baads
from 1833 till 1873.
Viscount Chilston, of Boughton Malherbe in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1911 for the Conservative politician and former Home Secretary Aretas Akers-Douglas. He was made Baron Douglas of Baads, in the County of Midlothian, at the same time.
I am uncertain if there is a link to Baads Castle, in West Lothian.
ALEXANDER DOUGLAS (of Baads), licen. by Presb. of Biggar 14th June 1716; ord. to Skirling 29th April 1718; dep. 1719; reponed 1721; pres. by George I., and adin. 28th Oct. 1725; died 5th Sept. 1749. He marr. Isabella (died 4th June 1775), daugh. of Andrew Houston of Calder, and had issue-Sholto; Alexander, merchant in St Kitts; Jean (marr. Aretas B. Akers of St Kitts); Robert, planter in St Kitts; Isabella; Mary (marr. James Stoddart, min. of Kirkintilloch); Admiral John Leigh, R.N.
Will of Alexander Douglas of Baads, Mid Lothian and of Finsbury Square merchant proved 27/10/1797. Under the will, he left to his son George his estate of Miraubeou [sic] in Grenada (subject to his wife's annuity of £450 p.a.), his estate in Tobago called Calder Hall, and 400 acres at Bloody Bay in Tobago. To his son Robert he left his share in the leased Lamberts or Middle Island estate on St Kitts and £7000, to his daughter Isabella Houstoun he left £4000 and to his sister Isabella the wife of Sir James Douglas HM Consul at Naples he left an annuity of £200 p.a. He left £50,000 in trust, £10,000 to be laid out on land in England and £40,000 in Scotland. The estate of Baads was left in entail.
Douglas of Craigs(4)
The village of Georgetown, Dumfries, was owned in the mid-19th century (circa 1850 - 1860) by 'Mr Douglas Esq of Baads' and (?subsequently) by Miss Douglas of Baads. Properties in the locality included Craigs Quarry, also known as Georgetown Quarry, Craigs farmhouse, Cairnfied, Craigend and Craigend Cottages. This Mr Douglas may be Rev Alexander Houston Douglas. In 1873, Douglas, James D. S., of Craigs held 6,629 acres at Baads, Haddington with a gross annual value of £6,013. This is the James Douglas Stoddart, who changed his name to James Douglas Douglas of Baads (above).
Death: At Kingston, Surrey, on the 21st ultimo, [June 1852] the Rev.
Alexander Houstoun Douglas, of Baads and Craigs, Dumfries-shire. -
The Galloway Advertiser and
Notes:
3. This should probably read Elizabeth Houston, George's niece. She was succeeded by Margaret, George's adopted daughter, who married James Douglas Stoddart, who in 1873 legally changed his name to James Douglas Douglas of Baads. 4. There is also a Craigs (with Howden) in mid Calder, which was in Douglas hands in the 16th century - See Pumpherston
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