General Sir James Duff

Army officer.
Born Keith, Aberdeenshire. Eldest illegitimate son of James Duff, second Earl Fife (1729–1809), and Margaret Adam, of Keith. His mother, ‘of humble status’, had 3 children with Fife. They were put with William Rose, Fife's factor. “Fife paid for James’s education, army promotions, and for his small Aberdeenshire estate of Kinstair, and made him his constant companion.”

Commissioned into the army, April 1769. Rose to become General (1809). The most notable, arguably notorious, moment of his army career was his role in crushing the Irish Rebellion of 1798.

Knighted April 1779.

Married Basilia (?-1849), daughter and heir of James Dawes [II] of Rockspring, Jamaica, 12 August 1785. "Marriage brought him financial independence and a sugar plantation."

MP for Banffshire (dominated by the Duff family electoral influence) 1784-1788.

Died at home, Funtington House, near Chichester, Sussex; buried Funtington parish churchyard.

H. M. Stephens, ‘Duff, Sir James (1753–1839)’, rev. Stephen Wood, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.