George Douglas of Pittendreich (died 1552) was a member of the powerful Red Douglas family who struggled for control of the young James V of Scotland in 1528. His second son became James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton and Regent of Scotland. Initially, George Douglas promoted the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots and Prince Edward of England. After war was declared between England and Scotland he worked for peace and to increase the power of Mary of Guise, the widow of James V.
Family
George Douglas was the brother of Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, and so was called "Master of Angus" in his lifetime. His parents were George Douglas, Master of Angus, and Elizabeth Drummond, daughter of John Drummond, 1st Lord Drummond. George married Elizabeth Douglas, the daughter and heir of David Douglas of Pittendreich near Elgin.
The Douglas family gained custody of the young James V in 1526. After the king escaped from them he laid siege to Tantallon Castle in 1529. Douglas family members and allies including Alexander Drummond were forfeited of their lands and titles by the Parliament of Scotland. When the family was re-instated in 1543, George Douglas was the legal representative of the Earl of Morton whose lands had been had forfeited. When the Morton lands were restored, George Douglas had his son James, the future Regent, married to Morton's youngest daughter, Elizabeth Douglas. The 3rd Earl of Morton's eldest daughter Margaret married James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran and another daughter married Lord Maxwell. Sadly, these three sisters were all affected by mental ill-health.
George's eldest son David Douglas, who became the 7th Earl of Angus, married Margaret Hamilton, the daughter of John Hamilton of Samuelston, a brother of Regent Arran. Arran gave them a dowry of £1000 from the royal exchequer in November 1552.
George had a son, George, and a daughter, Elizabeth, outside his marriage. The son married Marioun Douglas heiress of Parkhead or Parkheid, and so became known as George Douglas of Parkhead and was later Provost of Edinburgh and keeper of Edinburgh Castle. His daughter by Lady Dundas, Elizabeth, married Smeton Richeson.
In the King's minority
In 1515 George Douglas defended Stirling Castle for Margaret Tudor to try to prevent Regent Albany gaining control of James V, but abandoned the castle.
He was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle and then Dalkeith Palace and then Blackness Castle, in the keeping of Patrick Hamilton of Kincavil, in 1517, for fear of the Douglas family kidnapping the king.
In August 1526, the Earl of Lennox tried to abduct James V from the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The Douglases transferred the King to the house of the Archbishop of St Andrews in the Cowgate of Edinburgh, where George Douglas could keep a more secure watch with 40 men.
When Lennox and Angus joined in battle 2 miles west of Linlithgow on 4 September 1526, George Douglas was sent to bring a force raised in Edinburgh and the young King. The King tried to delay George, and at Corstorphine, close to Edinburgh, George raised his voice to James V and threatened him.
In May 1528, James V escaped from the Douglases, and George's custody, to his mother at Stirling Castle. According to Scottish chronicle historians, including Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, James escaped from Falkland Palace at night. In Pitscottie's story, when George Douglas discovered the King had gone, he first rode towards Ballinbreich Castle, but learned from the Earl of Rothes that the king was not there. George returned to Falkland, and the Earl of Angus, George and his brother Archibald rode to Stirling. They learnt that James had declared them excluded from six miles of his presence. Subsequently, the family were forfeited by the Parliament of Scotland, and although James's siege of their castle of Tantallon was unsuccessful, they went into exile in England.