Francis Brown Douglas

Francis Brown Douglas FRSE DL (2 April 1814-8 August 1885) was a Scottish advocate who served as the Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1859 to 1862.

Douglas’s family home at 21 Moray Place in Edinburgh

Life

He was born in Largs in Ayrshire on 2 April 1814, the son of Archibald Douglas (1779-1833), also an advocate, and Jane Brown of Bellair on the island of St. Vincent. He attended the High School of Edinburgh and then Edinburgh Academy (1824-5). He then studied law at the University of Edinburgh.

Following the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, Francis received a considerable sum in compensation for his father’s loss (his father being deceased) of 245 slaves on the Sans Souci Estate on St Vincent. This sum, probably received around 1845, totalled £6,418.[1]

In 1839 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer was John Shank More. [2] In 1843 he left the established Church of Scotland to join the Free Church of Scotland. He was an elder at Pilrig Free Church under the Rev William Garden Blaikie.[3]

On 7 August 1860 he oversaw, as Lord Provost of Edinburgh, the Great Review for Queen Victoria and the Royal Family, which involved over 20,000 persons.

His home for most of his life was 21 Moray Place[4] in the fashionable West End.

He died at Melville House in Fife on 8 August 1885. He is buried in Dean Cemetery in the west of Edinburgh. The grave lies on the western wall at the southern end of Lord's Row.[5]

Melville House, where Douglas died
The grave of Francis Brown Douglas, Dean Cemetery

Family

He was brother to Dr Archibald Douglas and cousin to Dr A. Halliday Douglas.[6]

He was married twice: firstly in 1845 to Mary Turner Christie at Scoonie in Fife; secondly in 1852 to the wealthy Marianne Leslie-Melville (1827-1899), by whom he had nine children.[7]

His eldest son, Francis Archibald Brown Douglas (b.1854) was also an advocate after studying law at the University of Cambridge,

His second son was Charles Christie Brown Douglas (b.1857).

References
  1. "Francis Brown Douglas, 1814-1885". www.douglashistory.co.uk. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  2. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
  3. The Kirk at Pilrig: Stuart W. Sime
  4. Edinburgh and Leith Post Office directory 1885-6
  5. "Francis Brown Douglas grave monument details at Dean 2e Cemetery, Edinburgh, Lothian,Scotland". www.gravestonephotos.com. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  6. Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; University of Glasgow. Library (1874). List of fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh [electronic resource] : from the year 1581 to 31st December 1873. University of Glasgow Library. Edinburgh : Printed by George Robb.
  7. "Person Page". www.thepeerage.com. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
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