JAMES, 4th earl and I st duke of Perth (1648-1716), opposed Lauderdale, and of ter his retirement in 1680 he was one of the committee of seven which managed Scottish affairs. He was made justice-general and extraordinary lord of session in 1682, and was lord chancellor of Scotland from 1684 to 1688. As a convert to Roman Catholicism after the death of Charles II., he stood high in the favour of James II. Perth, who is credited with the introduc tion of the thumbscrew, was very unpopular with the Scottish people, and during the Revolution of 1688 he was imprisoned at Stirling. Released from captivity in 1693 he joined James II. at St. Germain, and was made duke of Perth, a titular dignity only after the exiled king's death in 1701. His son JAMES (c. 1675— 1720 and his grandson JAMES (1713-1746) fought for the Stuarts. The titular dukedom became extinct in 1760.
The 1st duke's brother, JOHN (c. 1650-1715) , earl of Melfort,
rose to favour under Charles II. about the same time as his brother; like him, too, he became Roman Catholic in 1686. In 1684 he was made secretary of State for Scotland; in 1686 he was created earl of Melfort by James II., and during his reign he took a leading part in Scottish affairs. He died in Paris on Jan. 25, 1715. In 1853 George (1807-1902), nominally 6th duke of Melfort, obtained a reversal of the various attainders, and his own recognition as earl of Perth and Melfort. The succeeding earl (the 5th) was his kinsman, William Henry Drummond, Viscount Strathallan (1871-1937), who was in turn succeeded by his half-brother, Sir Eric Drummond (q.v.).
See Sir R. Douglas, The Peerage of Scotland; and Histories of Noble British Families, vol. ii., ed. H. Drummond (1846).