My family

Charlotte

Hannah-Charlotte Scott Douglas (1834-1921) was the youngest child of Sir John James Douglas and Hannah Charlotte Scott of Belford. Before marrying she lived chiefly at Sunlaws the home of her step-father William Scott-Kerr. 

Catty

Catharine Elizabeth Isabella Scott Douglas (1824-1863). Catty died at St Leonards on Sea on 24 Dec 1863 following an illness. According to Charlotte’s diaries she was engaged during 1856 but due to settlement problems the marriage did not take place.

Sholta

Mary Sholta Scott Douglas (1828-1905).  She attended at court on various occasions and was presented at St James’ Palace by her aunt, the Countess Dowager of Glasgow, on 29th April, 1852. In 1861 she was awarded a Fellowship by the Horticultural Society of London. She was living in Lowndes Square at the time. She died unmarried.

Mary

Elizabeth Mary Charlotte Scott-Kerr (1838-1868) was the only child of the marriage between William Scott-Kerr of Sunlaws and Hannah Charlotte Scott Douglas senior. On 24 July 1861 she married the historian Sir James Henry Ramsay 10^th Baronet of Bamff (Perthshire). They had 3 daughters Charlotte Lilias, Emily and the youngest the classical scholar Agnata Frances  (b. 1867).

The Scott-Kerrs
 

William Scott-Kerr

William Scott-Kerr of Sunlaws & Chatto, (1807-1890) was the son of Robert Scott-Kerr and Elizabeth Bell Fyffe.  He married Hannah Charlotte Scott Douglas following the death of her husband in 1836. Already named as guardian by the late Sir John Douglas he became a father to the Scott Douglas children.  He remarried in 1855 to Frances Louisa Fennessy.

Frances Scott-Kerr (nee Fennessy)

Frances Louisa Fennessy (1829-1884) was the daughter of Robert Fennessy and Charlotte Matilda Wilson.   The second wife of William Kerr came to the family home as Mary’s governess in November 1853. On 12 Jan 1855 the Kerr family received a letter to say that Mr Kerr and Miss Fennessy had married.  The Scott-Kerrs had 9 further children together. Their eldest child, Frances Edith was born on 8 January 1856.

References

Pedigree chart of Douglas of Friarshaw (1869) held by Heritage Hub

Information on Mary-Sholta Scott Douglas provided via email by Ian Abernethy (originally from Burke’s peerage)

Richard Lodge, ‘Ramsay, Sir James Henry, tenth baronet (1832–1925)’, rev. Marjorie Chibnall, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35662, accessed 3 July 2009]

‘William Scott-Kerr’ [http://www.thepeerage.com/p6065.htm #i60648, accessed 30 June 2009]

‘Frances Louisa Fennessy’ [http://www.thepeerage.com/p14126.htm#i141254, accessed 30 June 2009]

Note: Some of the information on this page has been gathered directly from the diaries of Hannah Charlotte Scott Douglas and family letters in the collection.