Sir Robert Douglas of Glenbervie, 6th Baronet (1694 – 24 April 1770) was a notable genealogist responsible for one of the major works on Scottish families, The Baronage of Scotland.

Works

No substantive Scottish peerage had appeared since George Crawfurd

George Crawfurd

-Life:He was the third son of Thomas Crawfurd of Cartsburn. When Simon Fraser laid claim to the barony of Lovat, he employed Crawfurd to investigate the case, and to supply materials to support it...

's in 1716. Douglas issued in 1764 in one folio volume The Peerage of Scotland; with a dedication to the Earl of Morton

Earl of Morton

The title Earl of Morton was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1458 for James Douglas of Dalkeith. Along with it, the title Lord Aberdour was granted. This latter title is the courtesy title for the eldest son and heir to the Earl of Morton....

 and a list of subscribers prefixed. In his preface Douglas stated that he had sent for corrections and additions a manuscript copy of each account of a peerage to the contemporary holder of it. There are references in the margin to the manuscript and other authorities.

In the preface to the peerage Douglas spoke of issuing a second part containing a baronage of Scotland, here using the word "baronage" in the limited sense of the Scottish gentry or lesser barons; Sir George Mackenzie had left materials for a work of that kind. In September 1767 he announced in the newspapers that the baronage was in the press; but before the publication of any part of it Douglas died. In 1798 appeared vol. i. of his ‘Baronage of Scotland, containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Gentry of that Kingdom,’ &c., some of the concluding pages of which are by the editors, whose promise in their preface to issue a second volume was not fulfilled. The volume includes the baronets of Scotland.

In 1813 was issued the latest and standard edition of Douglas's chief work, ‘The Peerage of Scotland, Second Edition, Revised and Corrected by John Philip Wood

John Philip Wood

-Life:His family was from Cramond, near Edinburgh. Though deaf-mute from early childhood, he held for many years the office of auditor of excise in Scotland. Wood died at Edinburgh in December 1838...

, Esq., with Engravings of the Arms of the Peers.’ Prefixed to it is a list of Scottish noblemen and gentlemen who furnished the editor with documentary and other information. Wood incorporated in it a number of corrections of the first edition made by Lord Hailes

David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes

Sir David Dalrymple, 3rd Baronet, Lord Hailes was a Scottish advocate, judge and historian, born in Edinburgh.-Family:...

 (some of his unpublished critical comments were given by James Maidment

James Maidment

James Maidment was a British antiquary and collector.He passed through Edinburgh University to the Scottish bar, and was chief authority on genealogical cases.Maidment's hobby was the collection of literary rarities...

). John Riddell referred to errors committed both by Douglas and by Wood.

In 1795, Douglas's ‘Genealogies of the Family of Lind and the Montgomeries of Smithton’ was privately printed at Windsor.

Family

Robert was the second son of Sir Robert Douglas, 4th Baronet, of Glenbervie (1661–1748) by his second wife, Jane Paterson, Lady Dunmure (d. 1750), and succeeded his half-brother, Sir William Douglas, 5th Baronet, who died without issue.

He married, circa 1738, Margaret, daughter of Sir James Macdonald, 3rd Lord Sleat & 6th Baronet (d. 1723), by his spouse Janet, daughter of Alexander Macleod of Talisker

Talisker, Skye

Talisker is a settlement on the Minginish peninsula in the Isle of Skye.-History:Talisker was for centuries a possession of the Clan Macleod. For nearly two hundred years it was associated with a cadet branch of the chiefly line, founded by Sir Roderick Macleod, 1st of Talisker...

 & Greshornish. They had three sons (two of whom died young), and a daughter, Janet (eventual heiress of this family), who married Sir Kenneth Mackenzie (later Douglas), Bt., of Kilcoy, and left issue.

Sir Robert was succeeded by his son and heir: Sir Alexander Douglas (1738–1812), 7th Baronet, of Glenbervie. He married Barbara (d. 1815), daughter of James Carnegie of Findhaven, but left no issue.