David Wemyss, de jure 6th Earl of Wemyss (12 August 1721 - 29 April 1787), generally known as Lord Elcho even after his father's death, was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 peer and Jacobite

Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...

 army officer.

Life

Elcho was the eldest son and heir of James Wemyss, 5th Earl of Wemyss

James Wemyss, 5th Earl of Wemyss

James Wemyss, 5th Earl of Wemyss was the son of David Wemyss, 4th Earl of Wemyss.He was key to securing his father-in-law's release from Newgate after he was sentenced to hang for the capital felony of rape....

, and his wife Janet (d. 1778), daughter of Colonel Francis Charteris and Helen Swinton. His parents separated in 1732. He was educated at Winchester College

Winchester College

Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...

, (1734 to 1738), and at the military academy at Angers. Elcho was in Rome from October 1740 until April 1741, where, he met James Stuart

James Francis Edward Stuart

James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales was the son of the deposed James II of England...

 (Stuart claimant to the throne). He was appointed a colonel of dragoons in February 1744 and was a member of the Royal Company of Archers.

Elcho joined Prince Charles Edward Stuart

Charles Edward Stuart

Prince Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or The Young Pretender was the second Jacobite pretender to the thrones of Great Britain , and Ireland...

 at Gray's Mill, near Edinburgh, on 16 September 1745, when he became the prince's first aide-de-camp and an original member of his council. Elcho fought at the Battle of Prestonpans

Battle of Prestonpans

The Battle of Prestonpans was the first significant conflict in the Jacobite Rising of 1745. The battle took place at 4 am on 21 September 1745. The Jacobite army loyal to James Francis Edward Stuart and led by his son Charles Edward Stuart defeated the government army loyal to the Hanoverian...

 on 21 September 1745. Elcho was one of the majority who at a council of war held at Derby in December 1745 advised the prince to return to Scotland rather than advance further into England and face almost certain death. Later Elcho was present on 17 January 1746 at the siege of Falkirk and on 16 April 1745 at the battle of Culloden

Battle of Culloden

The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Taking place on 16 April 1746, the battle pitted the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart against an army commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, loyal to the British government...

, at which Charles's army was defeated by English forces under the command of the Duke of Cumberland

Duke of Cumberland

Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British Royal Family, named after the county of Cumberland.-History:...

. Elcho, together with the Duke of Perth and other leaders of the Jacobite forces, escaped to France in the frigate Mars on 3 May 1746.

Elcho never returned to Britain, and for his part in the rising he was subject to the act of attainder passed in 1746 and his titles and lands were forfeited. In spite of this, he assumed the title of 6th Earl of Wemyss on his father's death on 21 March 1756, although he was generally known as Lord Elcho.

Elcho continued his military career in France, where he entered the service of Louis XV and held two unpaid offices, captain in the Fitzjames's regiment, and colonel in the Royal Scots. In the latter post Elcho was with his regiment at Gravelines from June to October 1757 and then at Dunkirk in 1758. Although he held no other military command, Louis XV conferred the Order of Military Merit

Order of Military Merit

Order of Military Merit may refer to:* Order of Military Merit , National Order "For Military Merit"* Order of Military Merit * German States:** Military Merit Order ** Military Merit Order...

 upon him in July 1770.

Dividing his time between France and Switzerland, he become naturalized in Neûchatel. On 9 September 1776 Elcho married at Beûtal in Switzerland, baroness Sofie Frederikke Vilhelmine Yxkull-Gyllenband, a daughter (b. 1756) of Baron, later count Karl Gustav Friedrich von Uexkull

Uexküll

Uexküll is a Baltic-German noble family.It's suggested that the name Uexküll originates from Ikšķile , town in Livonia.Notable members include:*Johann von Uexküll , Danish Governor of Ösel...

-Güldenband, the first HRE count of Münchzell, and a minister of Wurttemberg. She died in childbirth on 26 November 1777. Elcho himself died in Paris in 1787, aged sixty-five, and was buried with his wife at Bôle in Switzerland.

Lord Elcho's Narrative

David, Lord Elcho left two manuscripts: (1) a journal in French, covering the principal years of his life; (2) a narrative of the events in 1745-46. The narrative closely agrees with Blaikie's Itinerary of Prince Charles Stuart. Comparing the narrative with Tales of a Grandfather shows that Sir Walter Scott was given the opportunity of studying the narrative and that he adopted it as the principal authority for his history of the events of 1745.

According to Alice Wemyss in her book 'Elcho of the '45' (ISBN 0-85-411080-1) page 222, David, Lord Elcho, "...died in Paris 'on April 30 1787 in his house rue St Lazard as the result of illness and in the Protestant faith,'" "Elcho was accompanied to his last resting place by Droz (his steward) and two officers from the Swiss Guard. The cemetery was soon to be vandalised during the Revolution. Thus it is that his bones do not lie, as had been his wish, beside those of his wife." His wife was buried in Bôle, Switzerland.