Lieut-General John Lindsay, 20th Earl of Crawford

John Lindsay was born on 4 Oct 1702, the son of Lieutenant-General John Lindsay, 19th Earl of Crawford and Emilia Stuart. He inherited his titles on the death of his father in 1714. These were; 20th Earl of Crawford, 4th Earl of Lindsay, and 13th Lord Lindsay of the Byres. He was educated at University of Glasgow and the Vaudeuil Military Academy, Paris.
The Earl of Crawford was commissioned into the 3rd Foot Guards in 1726, but later served in the Austrian and Russian armies, and the portrait shows him in a uniform of either an Austrian or Hungarian Hussar regiment. He returned to Britain and was given the colonelcy of the Black Watch on 25 Oct 1739. He was then Colonel of the 2nd Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards (4 May 1704) and Colonel of the 4th Troop of Horse Guards ('Scottish Horse Guards') (1 April 1743). He fought at the Battle of Dettingen on 16 June 1743 and was afterwards greeted by King George II with "Here comes my champion!" He gained the rank of Brigadier-General in 1744 and Major-General in 1745. He fought in the Jacobite Uprising in 1745 and the Battle of Fontenoy on 30 April 1745 where he commanded the rearguard of the British retreat. The Black Watch comprised part of this force that helped save many allied lives.
Crawford was Colonel of the 25th Foot (25 Dec 1746). He fought in the Battle of Roucoux on 11 October 1746 and gained the rank of Lieutenant-General in 1747. He was also Colonel of the 2nd Dragoons (Scots Greys) (28 May 1747). In 1732 Crawford was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1734 he was Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England. Crawford married Lady Jean Murray, daughter of Lieutenant-General Sir James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl, in 1747 but she died only 9 months after their marriage. He died on 26 December 1749 from a head wound received at the Battle of Krotzka on 22 July 1739. He was the last member of the Lindsay family to be buried in the mausoleum in the cemetery at Ceres, Fife, Scotland. A contemporary described John Lindsay as "the most generous, the most gallant, the bravest and the finest nobleman of his time."

Regimental Details | Colonels