William Douglas 6th earl of Douglas

William Douglas, 6th earl of Douglas 1423?-1440, Scottish nobleman, eldest son of Archibald Douglas, 5th earl of Douglas. In answer to an invitation from the young James II, who was at that time controlled by Sir William Crichton and Sir Alexander Livingstone, Douglas and his brother visited the royal castle at Edinburgh and were there beheaded. The judicial murder achieved a temporary break in the wealth and power of the Douglas family. William had been 3d duke of Touraine, lord of Galloway and Annandale, and count of Longinville. Now the earldom passed to James Douglas, son of Archibald Douglas, 3d earl of Douglas, and Galloway went to Margaret, sister of the 6th earl, who eventually married William Douglas, 8th earl. The rest of the lands and titles were lost to the family.

Morton, William Douglas, 6th earl of [S] (1540–1606). Douglas was son of Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven and, by his mother, a half-brother of the Regent Moray. He inherited the earldom of Morton in 1588 from a distant cousin. He was involved in the murder of Rizzio and in 1567–8 was in charge of Mary at Lochleven castle, from which she escaped with the help of his younger brother George. He fought with the anti-Mary forces at Langside in 1568 and remained a close supporter of his kinsman, the Regent Morton. A favourite at the court of James VI, he was commissioner to the Scottish Parliament in 1592 and 1593.

J. A. Cannon