Seton, a lady related to the royal family, and who appears to have been an heiress, or to have obtained crown lands by way of dower, in the fertile shire of Lothian, which her husband called after his own name. From this gentleman, usually considered as the founder of the family, descended Alexander, who, in the 33d year of David II., exchanged his estate of Kinchibar for the lands of Arthberg, in the county of Stirling, which were called Elphinstone, and became the residence of his descendants.
Sir Alexander, one of these, was created a Baron in 1509, and the title has descended in regular succession during many generations. Charles, the tenth Lord Elphinstone, married Clementina, only surviving daughter and sole heiress of John, the last Earl of Wigtoun, a title now extinct, and niece of George Keith, hereditary Earl Marischal of Scotland, and of Field-Marshal Keith, whose family, with a noble attachment to learning, added to a degree of munificence befitting a sovereign house, founded the college of New Aberdeen, which is still called by their name[1].
The subject of this memoir was the fifth son by the above marriage. He was born in the year 1746; and, after receiving a suitable education at Glasgow, went to sea, in February, 1762, on board the Gosport, commanded by Captain Jervis, now Earl of St. Vincent; he subsequently served in the Juno, Lively, aud Emerald frigates, until the year 1767, when he went a voyage to China with his brother, the Hon. W. Elphinstone. In 1769 he proceeded to India, with Commodore Sir John Lindsay, by whom he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. Soon after his return to England, whither he had been sent with important despatches, he was appointed to the flag-ship of Sir Peter Dennis, Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean; and in 1772, was advanced to the rank of Commander, in the Scorpion, of 14 guns. His commission as Post-Captain bears date March 11, 1775; and his first appointment as such appears to have been to the Marlborough, of 74 guns, stationed at Portsmouth, from which ship he soon after removed into the Perseus frigate, and served in her on the coast of America, under Lord Howe and Admiral Arbuthnot.
- ↑ Marshal Keith was one of the favourite Generals of Frederick II, King of Prussia.
