KEITH, FRANCIS EDWARD JAMES ( 6 6 Pt) Scottish soldier and Prussian field marshal, was the second son of William, 9th earl marishal of Scotland, and was born on June II, 1696 at the castle of Inverugie near Peterhead. His share in the rising of 1715 drove him from Scotland. After two years in Paris, chiefly spent in study, he took part in 1719 in the ill-starred expedition of the Pretender to the Highlands of Scotland. He then served the Spanish and the Russian armies. He had the reputation of being one of the ablest officers in the Russian service as well as a capable and liberal civil administrator. In 1747 he offered his services to Frederick II. of Prussia, who at once gave him the rank of field marshal, in 1749 made him governor of Berlin, and evinced towards him, as towards his brother, the loth earl marishal, a strong personal regard. Keith was employed in high command during the Seven Years' War. In 1756 he commanded the troops covering the investment of Pirna, and distinguished himself at Lobositz. In 1757 he com manded at the siege of Prague; later in this same campaign he defended Leipzig against a greatly superior force, was present at Rossbach, and, while the king was fighting the campaign of Leuthen, conducted a foray into Bohemia. In 1758 he took a
prominent part in the unsuccessful Moravian campaign, and the autumn campaign in the Lausitz. He was killed on Oct. 1758 at the battle of Hochkirch. Keith had several children by his mistress, Eva Mertens, a Swedish prisoner captured by him in the war of 1741-43. In 1889 the 1st Silesian infantry regiment No. 22 of the German army received his name.
See K. A. Varnhagen von Ense, Biographische Denkmale, part 7 (1844) ; Fragment of a Memoir of Field-Marshal James Keith, written by himself (1714-34; edited by Thomas Constable for the Spalding Club, 1843) ; T. Carlyle, Frederick the Great, passim; V. Paczynaski Tenczyn, Leben des G. F. M. Jakob Keith (Berlin, 1889) ; Peter Buchan, Account of the Family of Keith (Edinburgh, 1878) ; Anon., Memoir of Marshal Keith (Peterhead, 1869) ; Pauli, Leben grosser Helden, part iv.