Francis Stuart, 10th Earl of Moray

Francis Stuart, 10th Earl of Moray KT (2 February 1771 – 12 January 1848) was a Scottish peer.

Early life

Francis was born on 2 February 1771 at Fife, Scotland. He was the eldest son of Francis Stuart, 9th Earl of Moray, and the former Hon. Jean Gray. His elder sister, Lady Grace Stuart, married George Douglas of Cavers, and his younger twin brother, Hon. Archibald Stuart, married Cornelia Pleydell (a daughter of Edmund Morton Pleydell).

His paternal grandparents were James Stuart, 8th Earl of Moray and, his first wife, Grace Gordon, Countess of Aboyne ( Lockhart, daughter of Sir George Lockhart and former wife of the 3rd Earl of Aboyne).

Career Upon the death of his father on 28 August 1810, he succeeded as the 2nd Baron Stuart of Castle Stuart in the Peerage of Great Britain, enabling him to sit in the House of Lords. At the same time, he succeeded as the 8th Lord St Colme, the 10th Earl of Moray, the 10th Lord Abernethy and Strathearn, and the 10th Lord Doune, all in the Peerage of Scotland.

He was appointed Knight of the Order of the Thistle in 1827.

After Lucy's death, Francis married his cousin, Margaret Jane Ainslie, daughter of Col. Sir Philip Ainslie of Pilton and his maternal aunt, Hon. Elizabeth Gray (a daughter of the 11th Lord Gray) on 7 January 1801 at Edinburgh. Together, they were the parents of: Hon. Charles Stuart (1812–1847), who predeceased his father. George Philip Stuart, 14th Earl of Moray (1816–1895), the Deputy Lieutenant of Inverness-shire; he never married.

Lady Moray died at Willoughby House in Cheltenham, on 3 April 1837. Lord Moray died at Darnaway Castle near Forres, Moray, on 12 January 1848. He was, in time, succeeded in the earldom by four of his sons, none of whom married or had children themselves.