of 1716 the right of the Keiths of Ravelston to be recognized as the representatives of the earls marishal was disputed by Robert Keith (1681–1757), bishop of Fife, a member of another collateral branch of the family. The bishop was a writer of some repute, his chief work, The History of the Affairs of the Church and State of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1734), being of considerable value for the reigns of James V., James VI., and Mary Queen of Scots. He also published a Catalogue of the Bishops of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1755), and other less important historical and theological works.
Robert Keith (d. 1774), descended from a younger son of the 2nd earl marishal, was British minister in Vienna in 1748, and subsequently held other important diplomatic appointments, being known to his numerous friends, among whom were the leading men of letters of his time, as “Ambassador Keith.” His son, Sir Robert Murray Keith (1730–1795), was on Lord George Sackville’s staff at the battle of Minden. He became colonel of a regiment (the 87th foot) known as Keith’s Highlanders, who won distinction in the continental wars, but were disbanded in 1763; he was then employed in the diplomatic service, in which he achieved considerable success by his honesty, courage, and knowledge of languages. In 1781 he became lieutenant-general; in 1789 he was made a privy councillor.
From the Keith family through the female line was descended George Keith Elphinstone, Baron Keith of Stonehaven, Marishal and afterwards Viscount Keith (q.v.), whose titles became extinct at the death of his daughter Margaret, Baroness Keith, in 1867.
See Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, edited by J. Bain (4 vols., Edinburgh, 1881–1888); Peter Buchan, An Account of the Ancient and Noble Family of Keith (Edinburgh, 1828); Memoirs and Correspondence of Sir Robert Murray Keith, edited by Mrs. Gillespie Smyth (London, 1849); John Spalding, Memorialls of the Trubles in Scotland, 1624–1645 (2 vols., Spalding Club Publ. 21, 23, Aberdeen, 1850–1851); Sir Robert Douglas, The Peerage of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1813); G.E.C., Complete Peerage, vol. iv. (London, 1892). (R. J. M.)
KEITH, FRANCIS EDWARD JAMES (1696–1758), Scottish
soldier and Prussian field marshal, was the second son of William,
9th earl marishal of Scotland, and was born on the 11th of June
1696 at the castle of Inverugie near Peterhead. Through his
careful education under Robert Keith, bishop of Fife, and subsequently
at Edinburgh University in preparation for the legal
profession, he acquired that taste for literature which afterwards
secured him the esteem of the most distinguished savants of
Europe; but at an early period his preference for a soldier’s career
was decided. The rebellion of 1715, in which he displayed
qualities that gave some augury of his future eminence, compelled
him to seek safety on the Continent. After spending two
years in Paris, chiefly at the university, he in 1719 took part in
the ill-starred expedition of the Pretender to the Highlands of
Scotland. He then passed some time at Paris and Madrid in
obscurity and poverty, but eventually obtained a colonelcy in
the Spanish army, and, it is said, took part in the siege of Gibraltar
(1726–27). Finding his Protestantism a barrier to promotion,
he obtained from the king of Spain a recommendation to Peter
II. of Russia, from whom he received (1728) the command of a
regiment of the guards. He displayed in numerous campaigns
the calm, intelligent and watchful valour which was his chief
characteristic, obtaining the rank of general of infantry and the
reputation of being one of the ablest officers in the Russian
service as well as a capable and liberal civil administrator.
Judging, however, that his rewards were not commensurate
with his merits, he in 1747 offered his services to Frederick II.
of Prussia, who at once gave him the rank of field marshal, in 1749
made him governor of Berlin, and soon came to cherish towards
him, as towards his brother, the 10th earl marishal, a strong
personal regard. In 1756 the Seven Years’ War broke out.
Keith was employed in high command from the first, and added
to his Russian reputation on every occasion by resolution and
promptitude of action, not less than by care and skill. In 1756
he commanded the troops covering the investment of Pirna,
and distinguished himself at Lobositz. In 1757 he commanded
at the siege of Prague; later in this same campaign he defended
Leipzig against a greatly superior force, was present at Rossbach,
and, while the king was fighting the campaign of Leuthen, conducted
a foray into Bohemia. In 1758 he took a prominent
part in the unsuccessful Moravian campaign, after which he
withdrew from the army to recruit his broken health. He
returned in time for the autumn campaign in the Lausitz, and
was killed on the 14th of October 1758 at the battle of Hochkirch.
His body was honourably buried on the field by Marshal
Daun and General Lacy, the son of his old commander in Russia,
and was shortly afterwards transferred by Frederick to the
garrison church of Berlin. Many memorials were erected to
him by the king, Prince Henry, and others. Keith died unmarried,
but had several children by his mistress, Eva Mertens,
a Swedish prisoner captured by him in the war of 1741–43.
In 1889 the 1st Silesian infantry regiment No. 22 of the
German army received his name.
See K. A. Varnhagen von Ense, Biographische Denkmale, part 7 (1844); Fragment of a Memoir of Field-Marshal James Keith, written by himself (1714–1734; edited by Thomas Constable for the Spalding Club, 1843); T. Carlyle, Frederick the Great, passim; V. Paczynaski-Tenczyn, Leben des G. F. M. Jakob Keith (Berlin, 1889); Peter Buchan, Account of the Family of Keith (Edinburgh, 1878); Anon., Memoir of Marshal Keith (Peterhead, 1869); Pauli, Leben grosser Helden, part iv.
KEITH, GEORGE (c. 1639–1716), British divine, was born at Aberdeen about 1639 and was educated for the Presbyterian ministry at Marischal College in his native city. In 1662 he became a Quaker and worked with Robert Barclay (q.v.). After being imprisoned for preaching in 1676 he went to Holland and Germany on an evangelistic tour with George Fox and William Penn. Two further terms of imprisonment in England induced
him (1684) to emigrate to America, where he was surveyor-general in East New Jersey and then a schoolmaster at Philadelphia. He travelled in New England defending Quakerism against the attacks of Increase and Cotton Mather, but after a time fell out with his own folk on the subject of the atonement, accused them of deistic views, and started a community of his own called “Christian Quakers” or “Keithians.” He endeavoured to
advance his views in London, but the Yearly Meeting of 1694 disowned him, and he established a society at Turner’s Hall in
Philpot Lane, where he so far departed from Quaker usage as to
administer the two sacraments. In 1700 he conformed to the
Anglican Church, and from 1702 to 1704 was an agent of the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in America. He died
on the 27th of March 1716 at Edburton in Sussex, of which parish
he was rector. Among his writings were The Deism of William
Penn and his Brethren (1699); The Standard of the Quakers
examined; or, an Answer to the Apology of Robert Barclay (1702);
A Journal of Travels (1706). Gilbert Burnet, bishop of Salisbury,
a fellow-Aberdonian, speaks of him as “the most learned man
that ever was in that sect, and well versed in the Oriental tongues,
philosophy and mathematics.”
KEITH, GEORGE KEITH ELPHINSTONE, Viscount (1746–1823),
British admiral, fifth son of the 10th Lord Elphinstone,
was born in Elphinstone Tower, near Stirling, on the 7th of
January 1746. Two of his brothers went to sea, and he followed
their example by entering the navy in 1761, in the “Gosport,”
then commanded by Captain Jervis, afterwards Earl St Vincent.
In 1767 he made a voyage to the East Indies in the Company’s
service, and put £2000 lent him by an uncle to such good purpose
in a private trading venture that he laid the foundation of a
handsome fortune. He became lieutenant in 1770, commander
in 1772, and post captain in 1775. During the war in America
he was employed against the privateers, and with a naval brigade
at the occupation of Charleston, S.C. In January 1781, when
in command of the “Warwick” (50), he captured a Dutch 50-gun
ship which had beaten off an English vessel of equal strength
a few days before. After peace was signed he remained on shore
for ten years, serving in Parliament as member first for Dumbartonshire,
and then for Stirlingshire. When war broke out
again in 1793 he was appointed to the “Robust” (74), in which
he took part in the occupation of Toulon by lord Hood. He
