James Drummond, 1st Baron Perth was a Scottish soldier, landowner and peer.
Early life
Drummond was born on 12 February 1744 at Lundin, Fife as James Lundin. He was the son of James Lundin and the former Lady Rachel Bruce, a daughter of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Kincardine. His elder sister, Veronica Drummond, married Duncan Campbell of Kames, and his elder brother, was Thomas Drummond, Lord Drummond. The Lundins descended from Thomas de Lundin, a natural son of King William the Lion. James' paternal grandparents were Robert Lundin and Anne Inglis. His grandfather Robert was a younger son of John Drummond, 1st Earl of Melfort by his first wife, Sophia Maitland. Sophia, his great-grandmother, had inherited Lundin from her brother John Lundin of Lundin, both children of Margaret Maitland and Robert Maitland. Sophia's mother Margaret had inherited the Lundin estates upon the death of her father, John Lundin of Lundin, in 1684.
Career
The younger James Lundin, now also known as Drummond, joined the British Army in 1771. On 2 September 1780 he was promoted to Captain in the 2nd Battalion 42nd Highlanders, and served with the Battalion in India.
On 6 February 1760, following the death of Edward Drummond, sixth Jacobite-jurisdiction Duke of Perth, James' father became heir to the Earldom of Perth, which had been forfeit since 1716 owing to the attainder of James Drummond, 2nd Duke of Perth. His father, therefore, assumed the surname of Drummond and styled himself 10th Earl of Perth, and in 1776, following the death of Jean Drummond, Duchess of Perth in 1773, he took up residence at the Drummond estate of Stobhall in Perthshire. Upon his father's death on 18 July 1781, James succeeded to his father's claim to the Earldom of Perth, but did not use the title. In 1784, an Act was passed allowing the Crown to grant to the heirs-male the estates that had been forfeited in 1745, and on 8 March 1785 the Court of Session declared that he was the person entitled to the Drummond estates, which he was duly granted. He submitted a claim to be Earl of Perth in 1792, but withdrew it in 1796, and on 26 October 1797 was created a Peer of Great Britain as Lord Perth, Baron Drummond of Stobhall in the County of Perth.
Personal life
On 31 March 1785, Drummond was married to the Hon. Clementina Elphinstone in Edinburgh. Clementina was a daughter of Charles Elphinstone, 10th Lord Elphinstone and Lady Clementina Fleming. Together, they were the parents of three children:
James Drummond, who died in childhood.
Clementina Sarah Drummond, who married Peter Robert Burrell on 20 October 1807; they adopted the surname of Drummond in addition to that of Burrell by Royal Licence on 6 November that year. He succeeded his father as Baron Gwydyr in 1820 and his mother as Baron Willoughby de Eresby in 1828. As the Hon. Mrs Drummond Burrell she was one of the Lady Patronesses of Almack's in 1814 as described in Captain Gronow's memoirs.
