William Dalrymple-Crichton, 5th Earl of Dumfries KT

Order of the Thistle

The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The current version of the Order was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland who asserted that he was reviving an earlier Order...

 (1699 – 27 July 1768) was a Scottish peer.
He inherited the title of Earl of Dumfries

Earl of Dumfries

Earl of Dumfries is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was originally created for William Crichton, 9th Lord Crichton of Sanquhar, in 1633, and stayed in the Crichton family until the death of the fourth earl in 1758, at which point the title passed to first the Dalrymple and then the McDouall...

 in 1742, upon the death of his mother Penelope Crichton, 4th Countess of Dumfries.

He served in the Army from 1721 to 1747, and was aide-de-Camp

Aide-de-camp

An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...

 to his uncle, the John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair

John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair

Field Marshal John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair KT PC was a Scottish soldier and diplomat.-Military career:Despite being born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Dalrymple spent his early life mostly in the Netherlands and he studied at Leiden University...

, at the Battle of Dettingen

Battle of Dettingen

The Battle of Dettingen took place on 27 June 1743 at Dettingen in Bavaria during the War of the Austrian Succession. It was the last time that a British monarch personally led his troops into battle...

 in 1743.

He commissioned Robert Adam

Robert Adam

Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...

, and John Adam

John Adam (architect)

John Adam was a Scottish architect. Born in Linktown of Abbotshall, now part of Kirkcaldy, Fife, he was the eldest son of architect and entrepreneur William Adam. His younger brothers Robert and James Adam also became architects.The Adam family moved to Edinburgh in 1728, as William Adam's career...

 to build Dumfries House

Dumfries House

Dumfries House is a Palladian country house in Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located within a large estate, around 3 km west of Cumnock. It was built in the 1750s by John Adam and Robert Adam for William Dalrymple, 5th Earl of Dumfries, and inherited in due course by the Marquesses of Bute, in...

, which was completed between 1754 and 1759.
He inherited the title of Earl of Stair

Earl of Stair

Earl of Stair is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1703 for the lawyer and statesman John Dalrymple, 2nd Viscount of Stair. He actively supported William III's claim to the throne and served as Secretary of State for Scotland. However, he was forced to resign after he authorised...

 in 1760 on the death of his brother, James Dalrymple, 3rd Earl of Stair

James Dalrymple, 3rd Earl of Stair

James Dalrymple, 3rd Earl of Stair , was the son of Colonel Hon. William Dalrymple of Glenmure and Penelope Crichton, Countess of Dumfries. He succeeded his uncle John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, but was required to bring a legal action to establish his right to the title, as his uncle had...

.

Family

His father was Colonel Hon. William Dalrymple of Glenmure and and mother was Penelope Crichton, Countess of Dumfries.

He married Lady Anne Gordon, daughter of William Gordon, 2nd Earl of Aberdeen

William Gordon, 2nd Earl of Aberdeen

William Gordon, 2nd Earl of Aberdeen , known between c. 1691 and 1720 as Lord Haddo, was a Scottish peer, Tory politician and Jacobite....

and Lady Mary Leslie, on 2 April 1731; they had one son,

• William Crichton, Lord Crichton (12 December 1734 - 9 September 1744);

he married Anne Duff, on 19 June 1762.

At his death the titles separated, the Earldom of Dumfries passing to his nephew Patrick McDouall while the Earldom of Stair passed to his cousin John Dalrymple.