Montrose, James Graham, 1st Marquess and 5th Earl of Montrose (1612–1650)

Scottish soldier, son of the 4th Earl of Montrose. He supported the Covenanters against Charles I, but after 1640 changed sides. As lieutenant general in 1644, he rallied the loyalist Highland clans to Charles, defeating the Covenanters' forces at Tipeprmuir and Aberdeen, but his subsequent attempt to raise the Royalist standard in the Lowlands ended in failure at Philiphaugh in 1645, and he escaped to Holland. Returning in 1650 to raise a revolt, he survived shipwreck only to have his weakened forces defeated, and (having been betrayed to the Covenanters) was hanged in Edinburgh.

As a Presbyterian he disliked Charles's high-handed policy towards the Scottish church, and assisted at the signing of the Covenant in 1638. He occupied Aberdeen three times for the Covenanters and finally defeated Viscount Aboyne, the king's lieutenant in the north, at the bridge of Dee in 1639. However, he disagreed with the excesses of the more extreme of the Covenanters and, after a vain attempt to persuade them to moderation, transferred his loyalty to the king.