Field Marshal George Hay, 8th Marquess of Tweeddale, KT, GCB (1 February 1787 – 10 October 1876), Hereditary Chamberlain of Dunfermline,[1] was a British soldier and administrator.
Born at Yester House the eldest son of George Hay, 7th Marquess of Tweeddale and Lady Hannah Charlotte Maitland (a daughter of James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale), Hay was educated at the Royal High School in Edinburgh and commissioned as an ensign in the 52nd Light Infantry in June 1804.
[2] After succeeding to his father's title as Marquess of Tweeddale in August 1804, he was promoted to lieutenant on 12 October 1804 and, having received his first training under Sir John Moore at Shorncliffe,[3] he served as an aide-de-camp in Sicily in 1806.
[4] As the redcoats of the 1/1st (Royal Scots) Foot and 100th Regiments moved forward, their own artillery had to stop firing in order to avoid hitting them.
[7] He was elected a representative peer for Scotland in July 1818, appointed Knight of the Thistle in 1820 and became Lord Lieutenant of East Lothian in February 1823.
[4] He was promoted to full general on 20 June 1854[13] and invited to join a Royal Commission established in July 1858 to inquire into the organization of the army then serving under the East India Company.