James Carnegie, 9th Earl of Southesk

Who was James Carnegie, 9th Earl of Southesk?

James Carnegie, 9th Earl of Southesk KT, known as Sir James Carnegie of Kinnaird and of Pitcarrow, Bt and de jure Earl of Southesk from 1849 to 1855, was a Scottish nobleman.

Born in Edinburgh, Southesk was the son of Sir James Carnegie, 5th Baronet and Charlotte Lysons. On his father's side he descended from David Carnegie, son of Hon. Alexander Carnegie, fourth son of David Carnegie, 1st Earl of Southesk. The fifth earl was involved in the Jacobite rising of 1715 and was attainted, with his titles and estates forfeited. However, in 1855 Sir James Carnegie obtained a reversal of his kinsman's attainder by Act of Parliament and became the ninth Earl of Southesk. Lord Southesk served as Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire from 1849 to 1856. In 1869 he was made a Knight of the Thistle and created Baron Balinhard, of Farnell in the County of Forfar, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. This title gave him and the later earls an automatic seat in the House of Lords.

Lord Southesk married Lady Catherine Hamilton Noel, daughter of Charles Noel, 1st Earl of Gainsborough, in 1849. They had one son and three daughters.