The Clan Campbell

The Loudouns have been a sept (branch) of the  Campbell Clan since the early 12th century.  The Clan Campbell coat of arms and crest are shown below.  A thorough history of the Campbells can be found on their Clan Website.

The Campbells of Loudoun

Sir Duncan Campbell, a junior grandson of Cailein Moir Campbell of Lochow, became founder of the Campbells of Loudoun by marriage with Susannah, daughter of Sir Reginald Crawford of Loudoun, whose great-grandmother had been Margaret Loudoun, heiress of James de Loudoun, from whom the duthus of Loudoun was feudalized about 1190. Robert the Bruce erected it into a barony, 1318, which was held by the descendants of Sir Duncan and the heiress of Loudoun from father to son to Hugh, the first Lord Loudoun, then they again, with the title, went into the female line. From Sir Duncan and his lady many highly respected families of the name of Campbell in Ayrshire are descended.

Sir Hugh Campbell of Loudoun was created Lord Campbell of Loudoun in 1601. His son, John, Master of Loudoun, died before him, leaving a daughter, Margaret, who succeeded to all the honors of Loudoun in 1662, and married her namesake, Sir John Campbell of Lawers, who was created Earl of Loudoun by Charles I, in 1633. His grandson, James Campbell, died, a Major-General, at the battle of Fontenoy in 1745.

Hugh, 3rd Earl of Loudoun, elder brother of the General, died in 1731, and was succeeded by his son, John, 4th Earl, who attained the highest military honours. John, the 4th Earl of Loudoun was appointed Governor General of Virginia in 1756.

Lord Loudoun in the Colonies

Upon Lord Loudoun's arrival in the Colonies, a comprehensive statement on the status of the French and Indian War (1732 to 1759), from a military point of view, and of the Virginia regiment in particular, was drawn up and submitted to him by Colonel George Washington.

In 1757 the Governors of Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and Pennsylvania met in Philadelphia to discuss holding the existing boundaries and possibly extending their territory. In writing to the Prime Minister, William Pitt, Loudoun declares that

                    "At this critical juncture Benjamin Franklin was chosen to go to England and act as spokesman and representative of the colonists, but the House of Commons had already declared that 'the colonists had no right to question the levies, nor to neglect the orders from the Crown.'"

Franklin summed up Loudoun's character as one of which "...Indecision was one of the Strongest Features."

Lord Loudoun was called back to Britain in  1758 and went on to serve in the British army in Spain in 1762, as second in command, before returning home to Scotland for good a few years later. He died, unmarried, at his home in Scotland on April 27, 1782, a year before the British General Cornwallis surrendered to the American General George Washington at Yorktown. The title of Lord passed to his cousin John Mure Campbell, the third son of the second Earl of Loudoun.

The title reverted to his cousin, Major-General James Mure Campbell, son of the General named above who fell at Fontenoy, who married Flora, eldest daughter of Macleod of Raasay, by whom he had one child, Flora Mure Campbell, who became Countess of Loudoun, and married, in 1804, General the Earl of Moira, Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, afterwards, Governor-General of India, and who, in 1816, was created Marquis of Hastings.

The Countess Flora was succeeded by her son, George, 7th Earl of Loudoun and 2nd Marquis of Hastings. On the death of Henry, 4th Marquis, the title went to his sister, Edith Maud, who married Mr. Clifton, with whom she assumed the name and Arms of Abney-Hastings. The Countess died in 1874, and was succeeded by her son, Charles, 11th Earl. He died in 1920, and was succeeded in his Scottish titles by his niece, Edith Maud, 12th Countess of Loudoun.

The 13th Countess of Loudoun

Barbara Huddleston Abney-Hastings, 13th Countess of Loudoun (1919-2002) was the oldest daughter of Reginald Mowbray Chichester Huddleston and Edith Maud Rawdon-Hastings, Countess of Loudoun and great great great grandaughter of Francie Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings. She succeeded to the Earldom of Loudoun in 1960 and was a member of the House of Lords until 1999 when the right of hereditary peers to sit in the Lords was abolished.  In 1998, Lady Louden wrote a letter and commentary on the Loudoun web site and forum.  

The 14th Earl of Loudoun

Michael Edward Abney-Hastings, 14th Earl of Loudoun (born July 22, 1942 is a British-born Australian farmer.  He succeeded his mother as Earl of Loudoun on November 1, 2002.