David Wemyss, Lord Elcho

David Wemyss, Lord Elcho, de jure Earl of Wemyss
David Wemyss, Lord Elcho ca 1741
Born21 August 1721
Wemyss Castle, Fife
Died29 April 1787
Paris
Buried
Allegiance Jacobite 1745-1746
 France 1756-1753
Service / branchArmy
Years of service1745-1763
RankColonel
UnitRoyal-Ecossais
Battles / warsJacobite rising of 1745
Battle of Prestonpans Falkirk Muir Culloden
Seven Years' War
AwardsRoyal Company of Archers
Order of Military Merit (France) 1770
RelationsFrancis Charteris (1675-1732)
5th Earl of Wemyss (1699-1756)
Sir James Steuart 1708-1780

David Wemyss, Lord Elcho and de jure 6th Earl of Wemyss (12 August 1721 – 29 April 1787), was a Scottish peer and Jacobite, attainted for his part in the 1745 Rising was deprived of titles and estates.

One of the few Jacobites excluded from the 1747 Act of Indemnity, his attempts to return home were unsuccessful and he spent the rest of his life in France and Switzerland. His wife Sofia (1756–1777) died in childbirth; Elcho left no legitimate children and when he died in Paris in 1787, his property passed to a younger brother.

His record of the 1745 Rising or A short account of the affairs of Scotland in the years 1744, 1745, 1746, is now considered a key contemporary source for the Rising.