William Hay, 10th Marquess of Tweeddale

William Montagu Hay, 10th Marquess of Tweeddale, KT, DL (29 January 1826 – 25 November 1911), known before 1878 as Lord William Hay or Lord William Montagu Hay, was a Scottish landowner, peer and politician. He was born at Yester House, near Gifford, East Lothian, and served in British India as a member of the Bengal Civil Service and later as a Liberal Member of Parliament.

In 1878 he succeeded his brother as Marquess of Tweeddale and as owner of some 40,000 acres in Scotland. He went on to become Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and was appointed a Knight of the Thistle.

Early life Hay was born at Yester House on 29 January 1826. He was the third son (of six sons and eight daughters) born to Lady Susan Montagu and George Hay, 8th Marquess of Tweeddale (1787–1876). Among his many prominent siblings were Lady Susan Hay (wife of James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie), Lady Hannah Hay (wife of Simon Watson Taylor), Lady Elizabeth Hay (wife of Arthur Wellesley, 2nd Duke of Wellington), George Hay, Earl of Gifford, Lord Arthur, later Earl of Gifford and later 9th Marquess of Tweeddale, Lord John Hay, Lady Jane Hay (wife of Sir Richard Taylor), and Lady Emily Hay (wife of Sir Robert Peel, 3rd Baronet).

Following his permanent return from India Hay was Liberal Member of Parliament for Taunton from 1865 to 1868, and was elected again for Haddington Burghs in 1878. He also became Chairman of the North British Railway Company. He was also a Deputy Lieutenant for the counties of Haddingtonshire (now called East Lothian and Berwickshire) and a Brigadier-General of the Royal Company of Archers, a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's Bodyguard in Scotland.

Personal life

On 18 May 1878, Lord Tweeddale was married to Candida Louise Bartolucci (1854–1925) at St Augustine's Church, London. Candida was a daughter of Signor Vincenzo Bartolucci of Cantiano, Italy.

Lady Susan Elizabeth Clementine Hay (1879–1964), who married Walter Waring, MP, son of Charles Waring, MP, in 1901. William Hay, 11th Marquess of Tweeddale (1884–1967), who married Marguerite Christine Ralli, daughter of Alexander Ralli and step daughter of Lewis Einstein, in 1912. Lord Arthur Vincent Hay (1886–1914), who was killed in action in the First World War during the First Battle of the Aisne. The inscription on his gravestone in France reads: "IN SUCH A DEATH THERE IS NO STING IN SUCH A GRAVE EVERLASTING VICTORY. (MOTHER)". After his death, she married Col. Robert Edward Kennard Leatham. and was succeeded by his eldest son, the Earl of Gifford (born 1884). He is buried at Yester Parish Church in Gifford, East Lothian, close to his family home at Yester House.

Descendants As his eldest son died without male issue, David George Montagu Hay, the son of his youngest son Lord Edward Douglas Hay, became the 12th Marquess of Tweeddale in 1967.