Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 49.djvu/286

 in Ayrshire (ib. pp. 339–40). He was engaged in the pursuit of Argyll in 1685, and in an action with the rebels was wounded in the neck (Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. App. pt. viii. p. 22). In January 1686 he was made a member of the Scottish privy council (, Historical Notices, p. 695), but on 14 Sept. he was dismissed by a letter from the king (ib. p. 750).

At the revolution Ross took an active part in supporting the claims of William and Mary to the Scottish crown, and he was one of the commissioners chosen by the Scottish estates to proceed to London to give the king an account of their proceedings (Melville Papers, p. 48). On the plea of attending to his parliamentary duties, he declined to undertake active military service against his old commander Claverhouse (ib. p. 195), and disobeyed an injunction requiring all officers to join the army at Stirling on pain of escheating (ib. p. 228). He nevertheless appears to have ultimately obtained exemption, for there is no record of any action being taken against him; but, being disappointed with the recognition of his political services, he eventually joined the malcontents against the government, and became a leading member of the society known as The Club. Along with Sir James Montgomery [q. v.], he went to London to present to the king a declaration of Scottish grievances. He was also one of the main contrivers of the Montgomery plot, it being understood that, if the plot were successful, he would be created an earl (Balcarres Memoirs, p. 62). It being, however, represented to him in January 1690 that he was to be imprisoned for designs against the government, he went to England (Melville Papers, pp. 446–7), and gave some information in regard to the plot, but refused to become evidence against any one (ib. p. 449). In July 1690 he was sent to the Tower (, Short Relation, p. 73), but was released on his own recognisances.

After the accession of Queen Anne, Ross was in 1701 appointed lord high commissioner to the church of Scotland. He was also one of the commissioners for the union between England and Scotland, of which he was a steady supporter; and he remained loyal to the government during the rebellion of 1715. At the general election of this year he was chosen one of the Scottish representative peers. He died on 15 March 1738, in his eighty-second year. He was four times married. By his first wife, Agnes, daughter and heiress of Sir John Wilkie of Fouldean, Berwickshire, he had a son and three daughters: George, thirteenth earl; Euphemia, married to William, third earl of Kilmarnock; Mary to John, first duke of Atholl; and Grizel to Sir James Lockhart of Carstairs, Lanarkshire, father of Sir John Lockhart-Ross. By his second wife, a daughter of Philip, lord Wharton, he had no issue. By his third wife, Lady Anne Hay, eldest daughter of John, second marquis of Tweeddale, he had a daughter Anne, who died unmarried. By his fourth wife, Henrietta, daughter of Sir Francis Scott of Thirlestane, he had no issue.

 ROSS, WILLIAM (1762–1790), Gaelic poet, was born at Broadford, Skye, in 1762. His father, a pedlar, settled for some time at Forres, Morayshire, where Ross was well educated. Afterwards the family removed to Gairloch, Ross-shire, his mother's native place. Ross made occasional excursions with his father, in the course of which he became proficient in the Gaelic dialects of the western highlands, and received impressions from scenery and character that stimulated his poetic powers. An accomplished musician, he both sang well and played with skill on several instruments. He was appointed parish schoolmaster at Gairloch, where he was popular and successful. He died at Gairloch in 1790, broken-hearted, it is averred, by the indifference of Marion Ross of Stornoway (afterwards Mrs. Clough of Liverpool), who rejected his advances. He celebrated her with freshness and force in his ‘Praise of the Highland Maid.’ His poetic range was considerable, and Gaelic scholars claim for him uncommon excellence in pastoral, descriptive, and anacreontic verse. Two volumes of his Gaelic poems were published—‘Orain Ghae'lach’ (Inverness, 1830, 12mo) and ‘An dara clòbhualadh’ (Glasgow, 1834, 12mo). Translations exhibit spirit, humour, and depth of feeling.

 ROSS, WILLIAM CHARLES (1794–1860), miniature-painter, descended from a Scottish family settled at Tain in Ross-shire, was born in London on 3 June 1794. He was the son of William Ross, a miniature-painter and teacher of drawing, who exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1809 to 1825. His mother, Maria, a sister of Anker Smith [q. v.], the line-engraver,