The Last Earl
Margaret Fox [please note change of speaker]
Tuesday, 13th January 2026
Eastgate Theatre, Peebles, 7.30 p.m.
Charles Stuart (1781 – 1861) was the last earl of Traquair, bringing to an end eight generations of the earldom which had been granted to his ancestor, John Stuart, 7th laird of Traquair, by King Charles I in 1633.
He spent his early years in France and Spain and returned to Scotland with his father and sister after the death of his mother in Madrid in 1796 – then on to a school for ‘young Catholic gentlemen’ in Lancashire at the age of 19 to complete his education. After his father’s death in 1827 he inherited a mountain of debt and turned his attention to ensuring the estate was improved.
He was an eccentric character, but with a great love for his local community and an insatiable curiosity for knowledge. His more eccentric side came out in his passion for organising local wasp hunts! His account books, in which he recorded every penny he spent, are absolutely fascinating.
A confirmed bachelor, he grew tired of his family’s efforts to find him a suitor and would hide nettles in their beds!
His life and times reflect the limitations historically placed on Catholic families from taking part in public life. He retained a romantic loyalty to the Jacobite cause in which his ancestors had played their part.
Margaret Fox graduated from Edinburgh University with an M.A. (Hons.) degree in History in 1975. She has spent most of her working life as an archivist, commencing with a government Job Creation Project in 1976 cataloguing the historic records of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England’s most northerly town. For twelve years, she worked at the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh, where she was involved in digitisation projects.
Since 1991 Margaret has worked in the archives at Traquair House and has co-authored two books with Catherine Maxwell Stuart, 21st Lady of Traquair – A Family Life Revealed: the Stuarts at Traquair, 1491 – 1875, and All for our Rightful King: Traquair’s Jacobite Story, 1688 – 1842. They are currently planning their next book which will be a biography of Mary Ravenscroft, 7th Countess of Traquair, which will draw extensively on the archives to tell the story of this fascinating character.
Margaret regularly gives talks to local history societies, family history societies and at conferences in her mission to convince her audience that delving into archives, the raw material of history, is the best way to illuminate the past.
