Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Montgomerie, Alexander (1723-1769)
MONTGOMERIE, ALEXANDER, tenth Earl of Eglinton (1723–1769), fourth son of Alexander, ninth earl [q. v.], and second son by his third wife, Susannah, daughter of Sir Archibald Kennedy of Culzean, was born 10 Feb. 1723, and succeeded his father 18 Feb. 1729. He received his early education at the grammar school of Irvine, after which he was, in May 1737, transferred to Haddington, and thence, in October 1738, to Winchester, where he remained, somewhat to his dissatisfaction, beyond the usual school age. In 1742 he went to Paris, and became specially proficient in dancing, fencing, and riding.
In 1748 Eglinton, under the act for abolishing heritable jurisdictions, obtained 7,500l. for the redeemable sheriffship of Ren frew, the bailiary of the regality of Kilwinning and the regality of Cunningham, regarding which there had since 1498 been a chronic dispute between the Earls of Eglinton and Glencairn [see under Hugh, first Earl of Eglinton]. In 1759 he was appointed governor of Dumbarton Castle, and on the accession of George III he was made a lord of the bedchamber, which office he retained for six years. It was owing chiefly to the exertions of Eglinton that the optional clause was abolished in the Scottish Bank Act which enabled the banks to delay payment of their notes for six months after demand. He was also strongly opposed to the accumulation of public debt, and under the signature 'A. M.' published in 1754 a pamphlet on the subject, entitled 'Inquiry into the Origin and Consequences of the Public Debt, by a Person of Distinction.' Deeming that he might as a commoner find a more useful and important sphere for his ambition, he at one time cherished the purpose of dispeering himself, and took the advice of counsel on the subject, but their opinion being unfavourable he gave up the project. In 1761, and again in 1768, he was chosen a representative peer for Scotland. While taking an active interest in matters of public and political interest, he also devoted much attention to the management of his estate, and was one of the chief pioneers of agricultural improvement in Ayrshire.
The earl was mortally wounded on 24 Oct. 1769 by a gun fired by Mungo Campbell, an officer of excise at Salcoats, and died on the folio wing morning at Eglinton Castle. Campbell, who had formerly been detected shooting a hare on Eglinton's estate, was seen by some servants on the grounds of the earl near Ardrossan, gun in hand. The earl, who was passing at the time in his carriage, was informed of the circumstance, and alighting, demanded that Campbell should give up his gun. This Campbell, who affirmed that he was merely walking through the earl's grounds for a short cut, and had no intention of poaching, declined to do. The earl determined to compel him, whereupon Campbell, keeping the gun pointed at him, warned him that 'he would give it up to no man.' As the earl advanced, Campbell stepped backwards, until he stumbled over a stone and fell; immediately after the earl was shot he was put into his coach and carried to Eglinton Castle, where he died at two o'clock the next morning, having employed the interval in giving orders and making provision for his servants. According to the dying declaration of the earl and the statements of his servants, Campbell shot him deliberately, but Campbell himself persisted in asserting that the gun went off accidentally. He was tried before the high court of justiciary of Edinburgh, and condemned to death, but avoided execution by hanging himself in prison on the morning after the trial. The body was delivered to his friends, who buried it near Salisbury Crags, but the rabble of Edinburgh having discovered the grave disentombed it, and treated it with brutal contumely, and ultimately it was taken by the friends and sunk in the sea. Eglinton at the time of his death was engaged to be married to Jane, daughter of Sir John Maxwell of Pollok, Renfrewshire, and widow of James Montgomerie of Lainshaw, Ayrshire. As he left no children, he was succeeded in the estates and titles by his brother Archibald (1726-1796) [q. v.]
It was to Eglinton that Boswell was indebted for introduction to what he terms 'the circle of the great, the gay, and the ingenious.' Boswell also states that the earl, 'who loved wit more than wine, and men of genius more than sycophants, had a great admiration of Johnson, but from the remarkable elegance of his own manners was perhaps too delicately sensible of the roughness which sometimes appeared in Johnson's behaviour.'
[Trial of Mungo Campbell, 1770; Information for Mungo Campbell, 1770; Sermon preached on the occasion of the Death of the late Alex., Earl of Eglinton, by Alex. Cuningham, minister of Symington, 1769; A Dialogue of the Dead between Lord Eglinton and Mungo Campbell, 1770; Boswell's Life of Johnson; Paterson's Hist. of Ayr; Sir William Fraser's Earls of Eglinton; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), i. 506-7.]