SELKIRK, Thomas Douglas, Earl of, born at the family-seat, St. Mary's isle, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, in June, 1771; died in Pan, France, 8 April, 1820. He studied at Edinburgh university from 1786 till 1790, early developed a taste for literary pursuits, and was an associate of Sir Walter Scott. He succeeded his brother as Lord Dacre in 1797, and his father as Earl of Selkirk in May, 1799. In 1803 he settled a colony of 800 Scottish Highlanders upon waste land that was given to him by the government in Prince Edward island, and soon afterward he established a small colony in Kent county, Upper Canada. While residing in Montreal he conceived the project of planting a colony of evicted Highlanders from the estates of the Duchess of Sutherland in the Red river country. To accomplish this he purchased a large tract of land on the Red river for colonization from the Hudson bay company. His Highland colonists began to arrive in 1811, and in 1812 the Red river colony was established. Trouble ensued between the colony and the Northwest trading company, and the emigrants were driven from their new homes. In 1816 Lord Selkirk went to Red river to aid his colonists against their enemies, and, assisted by a small armed force, restored them to their lands and reimbursed them for their losses. He became financially embarrassed in consequence of his philanthropic schemes, and persecution and slander so shattered his health that he never recovered. Soon after his return to Scotland he went to the south of France to recruit, but he died shortly afterward. He wrote "Observations on the Present State of the Highlands of Scotland, with a View of the Causes and Probable Consequences of Emigration" (London, 1805) ; "The Necessity of a more Effectual System of National Defence" (1808); "Sketch of the British Fur Trade" (1816): " The Red River Settlement" (1817); and "Occurrences in the Indian Countries of North America" (Montreal, 1818).