The Late Earl of Selkirk

Abstract

ON Saturday, April 11, 1885, Dunbar James Douglas, sixth and last Earl of Selkirk died, after a short llness, at St. Mary's Isle, Kircudbright; had he lived till the 22nd of the month he would have completed his seventy-sixth year. His death, though it occurred at a ripe age, has proved a sudden and unexpected blow to those who hoped that many years of life might yet remain to one upon whose spare and still vigorous frame, age had as yet apparently made but little impression, and whose mental and physical energy alike gave promise of a still prolonged period of utility. Those who so recently saw him in even more than his wonted health now sadly realise the fact that he has succumbed, like many others, to the evil influences of the treacherous and bitter east winds which for some time swept over our islands, and terminated his valuable life after a short illness of but three weeks. How much he is regretted, how sorely he will be missed, it is impossible to say; for the removal of one so gifted and so good is an irreparable loss, which will be felt more and more as time progresses, wherever the genial influence of his life and example had been felt.