OGILVY, the name of a celebrated Scottish family of which the earl of Airlie is the head. The family was probably descended from a certain Gillebride, earl of Angus, who received lands from William the Lion. The earldom of Findlater, bestowed on James Ogilvy, Lord Ogilvy of Deskford, in 1638, was united in 1711 with the earldom of Seafield and became dormant after the death of James Ogilvy, the 7th earl, in October 18ii.
James Ogilvy (c. 1593-1666), was created earl of Airlie by Charles I. at York in 1639. A loyal partisan of the king, he joined Montrose in Scotland in 1644 and was one of the royalist leaders at the battle of Kilsyth. The destruction of the earl's castles of Airlie and of Forther in 1640 by the earl of Argyll, who "left him not in all his lands a cock to crow day," gave rise to the song, "The bonny house o'Airlie." His eldest son, James, the 2nd earl (c. 1615—c. 1704) also fought among the royalists in Scotland. He was three times a prisoner of the English, and was in the Tower of London during most of the years of the Commonwealth. This earl's grandson, James Ogilvy (d. 1731), took part in the Jacobite
rising of 1715 and was attainted; consequently on his father's death in 1717 he was not allowed to succeed to the earldom, although he was pardoned in 1725. When he died his brother John (d. 1761) became earl de jure, and John's son David (1725-1803) joined the standard of Prince Charles Edward in 1745. He was attainted, and after the defeat of the prince at Culloden escaped to Norway and Sweden, afterwards serving in the French army, where he commanded "le regiment Ogilvy" and was known as "le bel Ecossais." In 1778 he was pardoned and was allowed to return to Scotland, and his family became extinct when his son David died unmarried in April 1812. After this event David's cousin, another David Ogilvy claimed the earldom. In 1826 the attainders were reversed by act of parliament and David (d. 1849) became 6th earl of Airlie. The title remains in the hands of his descendants.
See Sir R. Douglas, Peerage of Scotland, new ed. by Sir J. B. Paul (1904 fol.).