DOUGLAS, Dr Alexander (b. c.1592), of Downies, Banffshire.

Douglas’s parentage is uncertain. The printed Annals of Banff describe him as the son ‘of the bishop’, and if this is correct, his father was probably the bishop of Moray, also Alexander Douglas, who died in 1623 and was certainly survived by a son called Alexander.14Annals of Banff, i. 39; Dowden, Bishops of Scotland, 415. The MP can probably be identified with one of the two men of the same name who graduated from Aberdeen in 1608-9, and with the Alexander Douglas ‘Scotus’ who was admitted to study medicine at Leiden in 1622, aged 30. Although there is no evidence from the admissions records, it is likely that Douglas’s medical doctorate was awarded during his period abroad.

In the mid-1620s, Douglas’s career comes into sharper focus, thanks to his involvement in the royal burgh of Banff. Despite his episcopalian background, Douglas was a committed Presbyterian, chosen as an elder of the Banff Kirk in 1625; he married the daughter of a local landowner in or before 1626; and during the 1630s he rose through the burgh corporation, becoming bailiff in 1637 and provost in 1639. He also established a lucrative medical practice, although his success in curing one invalid with herbs gathered at night led to the patient (but not the doctor) being accused of witchcraft before the Scottish privy council.15Regs. PC Scot. 1633-5, pp. xxxii-iii, 570. Douglas’s rise to influence in the burgh brought him into conflict with those ‘who either envied his rising or misliked his ways’, including its traditional rulers, the Ogilvie clan.16Annals of Banff, i. 94. There had been tension between Douglas and Sir George Ogilvie, laird of Banff, as early as 1627, and the rise of the covenanting movement brought open hostility.17Annals of Banff, i. 39. In 1640 the Covenanters of Banff, led by Douglas as their ‘chief ringleader and agent amongst them’, encouraged General Munro’s troops to come to the town and plunder the estate of the laird, who was known as an anti-Covenanter and royalist. Ogilvie’s house was looted and destroyed, and, despite the ‘no small evil will’ borne against him by the Ogilvies in later years, Douglas’s position in the burgh was secured.18Annals of Banff, i. 94; Regs. PC Scot. 1638-43, pp. 627, 631. In the next two decades he was repeatedly elected as provost, and (according to his enemies) used his position ‘much to the enriching of himself’.19Annals of Banff, i. 94; ii. 267.

The dominance of Douglas in Banff encouraged his participation in national affairs. He represented Banff in the Scottish Parliaments and conventions of 1641, 1643, 1644-5 and 1649-51, and was appointed to a number of important committees and commissions, including that for ‘receiving the brotherly assistance of the English Parliament’ and upholding the treaty of Ripon (in 1641), the committee of war (in 1643), and the committee of estates (1644-6, 1651).20Young, Parliaments of Scot. i. 191-2. In October 1648, when the committee of estates demanded that the constituencies return only ‘able and well-affected’ commissioners, the citizens of Banff declared that they would not elect anyone who had supported ‘the late unlawful Engagement’ and replaced the serving provost with Douglas.21Annals of Banff, i. 92. Douglas’s rejection of any compromise with the royalists led to his removal as provost and parliamentary commissioner in 1651. Although he may not have welcomed the Cromwellian invasion, Douglas was prepared to work with the new regime, serving as joint sheriff of Banffshire (with Colonel Ashfield) from May 1652.22Smith, ‘Scotland and Cromwell’, 196. He used his influence to benefit the burgh, securing concessions from the convention of burghs in 1653, for which he received Banff’s ‘many thanks for his pains and care’ and 91 merks for his expenses.23Annals of Banff, i. 137. In the same year he was re-appointed provost of the town, a post he also held for three years from 1656. Douglas’s relationship with the protectorate authorities seems to have been cordial, and in 1656 he was proposed as a member of the planned (but never realised) College of Physicians of Scotland.24Students at Leyden, 70. Although he had been replaced as sheriff of Banffshire by 1656, this may have been a deliberate ploy, to allow him to stand as MP for the shire in the parliamentary elections. He was returned on 20 August of that year, presumably on his own interest as provost of the burgh and landowner in the shire.25C219/45, unfol. Douglas travelled to Westminster, and was added to the committee of Scottish affairs on 26 September.26CJ vii. 428b. He was named to only two other committees, including that appointed on 9 April 1657 to receive the protector’s doubts and scruples concerning the Humble Petition and Advice.27CJ vii. 521b. His presence on this committee list suggests that the author of the Narrative of the Late Parliament was correct in identifying Douglas as one of those voting on 25 March for Cromwell to be crowned.28Narrative of the Late Parliament (1657), 23 (E.935.5).

In the later 1650s, Douglas returned to his duties at Banff, where he served as provost of the burgh, and became an active member of the local commission of the peace.29NRS, JC26/19, ‘Bundle 6’; JC26/22, ‘Bundle 4’, no. 41; JC26/25, ‘Bundle 3’. In 1658 he was a benefactor of the new building at King’s College in Aberdeen, joining such Cromwellian luminaries as George Monck*, and the provost of Aberdeen, Alexander Jaffray*.30Fasti Aberdonenses, 541. As a man closely associated with both the Covenanters and the Cromwellians, Douglas was excluded from the burgh’s affairs after 1660, although he remained active in private legal disputes, including one with his wife’s relatives, the Craig family, in June 1663.31Recs. of Judiciary Ct. 1661-78, ed. W.G. Scott-Moncrieff (Edinburgh, 1905), 60-1. He was presumably still alive in 1666, when one William Douglas of Aberdeen University dedicated to him his theological dissertation.32Students at Leyden, 70. His influence was by this time at a low ebb, but his enemies still sought revenge. While returning home from a court case in Banff, Douglas was stabbed in the back, allegedly by a peat-seller, and died soon afterwards. The culprit was never apprehended. Douglas was buried in the kirkyard at Banff, where he had erected an ornamental monument to himself in 1658.33Annals of Banff, ii. 362-4. He was survived by two daughters: Isobel, who married Alexander Cant, minister of Banchory, and Christian, who married Walter Leslie of Tulloch.34Young, Parliaments of Scot. i. 192.