MONTROSE, JAMES GRAHAM, MARQUESS OF (1612 165o), became 5th earl of Montrose (see above) in 1626. He was educated at St. Andrews, and at 17 married Magdalene Carnegie, daughter of Lord Carnegie (afterwards earl of Southesk). Not long after the outbreak of the Scottish troubles in 1637 he joined the party of resistance to Charles I., signed the Covenant in 1638, and successfully suppressed the opposition to the popular cause which arose in the north around Aberdeen and in the country of the Gordons, though he violated the safe conduct he had promised to Huntley, the leader of the rising, by taking him prisoner to Edinburgh. In 1639, after the signature of the Treaty of Berwick, Montrose was one of the Covenanting leaders who visited Charles. He wished that the clergy should confine them selves to their spiritual duties, and that the king, after being enlightened by open communication with the Scottish nation, should maintain law and order without respect of persons. In the Scottish parliament which met in September, Montrose found himself in opposition to Argyll, was opposed to Argyll's policy of making the three estates equal, thus making the middle classes and the Presbyterians a tool for his own ambition ; but he failed to win the support of Charles.
Rather than give way, Charles prepared in 1640 to invade Scotland. Montrose, who was the leader of the royalist party known as the "Plotters," which had arisen within the ranks of the Covenanters, was of necessity driven to play something of a double part. In Aug. 1640 he signed the Bond of Cumbernauld as a protest against the "particular and direct practising of a few," in other words, against the ambition of Argyll. But he defended his country, and in the same month displayed his gal lantry in the forcing of the Tyne at Newburn. After the success of the invasion, Montrose was summoned before the Committee of Estates charged with intrigues against Argyll, and in June was imprisoned in Edinburgh castle. After the king's visit to Scot land Montrose shared in the amnesty tacitly accorded to all Charles's partisans.
When the Civil War began in England (see GREAT REBELLION) Montrose constantly pressed Charles to allow him to make a diversion in Scotland. Hamilton's impracticable policy of keep ing Scotland neutral for long stood in the way of Charles's consent. But in Feb. 1644, when a Scottish army entered England to take part against the king, Montrose, now created a marquess, was appointed lieutenant-general in Scotland. After his unsuccessful
attempt in April to invade Scotland with about 1,000 men, dis guised as a groom, he made his way in August to the Highlands, where the clans rallied to his summons. He defeated his oppon ents, with great military skill, at Tippermuir, Aberdeen, Inver lochy, Auldearn, Alford, Kilsyth and Dundee.
In the name of the king, who now appointed him lord-lieutenant and captain-general of Scotland, he summoned a parliament to meet at Glasgow with the object of organizing the Lowlands, on Oct. 20, but the parliament never met, for Charles had been defeated at Naseby on June 14, and Montrose was called to his help. David Leslie, the best of the Scottish generals, was promptly despatched against Montrose whom he discovered on Sept. 12, deserted by his Highlanders and guarded only by a little group of followers, at Philiphaugh. His conduct of the war had alienated the Lowlands. Montrose made his way to the Highlands ; but he failed to organize an army. In Sept. 1646 he embarked for Nor way. In 1647 he went to Paris, but could get no support from Henrietta Maria. Three years later, burning to revenge the death of the king, he was restored by the exile Charles II. to the now nominal lieutenancy of Scotland. Charles however did not scruple shortly afterwards to disavow his noblest supporter in order to be come a king on terms dictated by Argyll and Argyll's adherents. In December 1649 Montrose sailed for the Orkneys with 1,200 men, but 1,000 of them were lost by shipwreck. Reaching Scot land, Montrose tried in vain to raise the clans, and on April 27, was routed at Invercarron. After wandering for some time he was surrendered by Macleod of Assynt, to whose protection, in ignor ance of Macleod's political enmity, he had entrusted himself. On May 20, he was sentenced to death and was hanged on the 21st. To the last he protested that he was a real Covenanter and loyal subject.
The principal authorities for Montrose's career are Wishart's Kes gestae, &c. (Amsterdam, 2647 ; abridged trans. in the Stuart series 1903) ; Patrick Gordon's Short Abridgment of Britane's Distemper (Spalding Club) ; Gardiner's Great Civil War; Napier, Memorials of Montrose (1856), containing Montrose's poetry, a selection of which has been edited by R. S. Rait (19o1) ; H. Pryce, The Great Marquis of Montrose (1912) and J. Buchan, The Great Marquis of Montrose (1913).