Tweeddale, John Hay, 2d earl and 1st marquess of, 1626–97, Scottish statesman. In the English civil war he left the party of Charles I and fought for Parliament at Marston Moor (1644), but when Charles promised to support Presbyterianism, he fought for the king at Preston (1648). At the Restoration (1660), he was made a privy councilor for Scotland and advanced to president of the council in 1663. He was dismissed (1674) from office because he favored leniency toward the Covenanters, but he later served Charles II and James II as commissioner of the treasury and privy councilor. Supporting the accession (1688) of William III, he was again made privy councilor and a lord of the treasury (1689), high chancellor of Scotland (1692), and marquess (1694). In 1695 he conducted the inquiry into the massacre at Glencoe. The next year he was dismissed from the chancellorship for approving in the king's name the Darién Scheme.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: British and Irish History: Biographies
