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David was the son of John Wemyss, 1st Earl of Wemyss, and Jane Gray, inheriting the Earldom on his father's death in 1649. He married three times: Lady Anne Balfour 1627, Lady Eleanor Fleming 1650 and Lady Margaret Leslie 1653. He fathered 16 children, including 10 sons who all died before him. Thus, on his death, his title and estates passed to his daughter Margaret, who became Countess of Wemyss.
As a young man, he was active in the covenanting movement. In 1640, when still Lord Elcho, he commanded a regiment of Fife infantry in the second Bishop's War, in 1644 he was routed by Montrose at Tippermuir, and in 1645 he was a member of the Covenanters' Committee which made the fatal mistake of giving battle at Kilsyth. For some years after this Elcho took a leading, though not conspicuous, part in the affairs of the Covenanters, but on his succession to the earldom he appears to have withdrawn from public life. Thereafter he devoted himself to the management of his coal mines and to the development of the mineral resources of his estates. (Taken from: 'Scottish Diaries and Memoirs 1550-1746.' Edited by J.G. Fyfe. Eneas Mackay, c.1927.) |