His father, was the 9th Earl Marischal of Scotland, was a Knight of the Order of the Thistle, and a member of the Privy Council of James Francis Edward Stuart.

[6] In his autobiography, Keith makes it clear that his dissatisfaction in Great Britain began with the failure of Queen Anne to settle the Scottish succession on her half-brother James.

Subsequently, when the Earl of Mar failed to join up with the English Jacobites and the Catholics in the south, Keith realised that the end of this effort was near.

[9] Eventually, after Government forces pursued the Jacobites almost to the Isle of Skye, a French Navy warship picked up 100 officers, including Keith, and took them to St. Pol de Leon in Brittany.

He spent the better part of a year living hand to mouth by selling the personal items he had brought with him, mostly horse furnishings.

"[12] Eventually he received a gift of 1000 livres from Mary of Modena, mother of the Pretender and this, plus some support from home and an allowance from James enabled him to spend the rest of the year at the university.

In 1717, he received a commission as colonel of cavalry and was ordered to prepare to go to Scotland again, but the plan, contingent upon support from the Charles XII of Sweden, was discovered and thwarted, and he continued at the university.

They had to deceive the customs agents at the borders about their destination, purpose and origins, Spain being actively engaged in trying to secure the French throne for Philip V in the War of the Quadruple Alliance.

Keith and his brother journeyed to Madrid, raising funds for an army for James, arranging for its transport to Scotland, and communicating the king's designs to the various Scottish chieftains throughout Europe.

[15] In the course of communicating with Jacobite sympathizers in Spain and France, Keith realised that there was a considerable division of factions among James's supporters.

Eventually, the Jacobites embarked for the Isle of Lewis on 19 March in a small ship, from the mouth of the Seine, and set course to round the Orkney Islands The wind forced them off course until, after 24 March, they had altered course and managed to slip past a squadron of Royal Navy men-of-war which were transporting troops from Ireland to England: news of a conspiracy had reached London by then, and the Government had prepared for the uprising.

There was, apparently, considerable subsequent disagreement about how the rebellion should proceed, some wishing to wait for the Duke of Ormonde's 500 Spanish marines on the way from Spain.

Keith had in his pocket a pair of commissions from the King of Spain, items which would cause them great trouble, but his jailers did not search him, nor ask for his name.

"[18] After leaving France, Keith eventually obtained a colonelcy in the Spanish army as part of the Irish Brigade, then commanded by the Duke of Ormonde.

In late 1742, Keith was succeeded in the leadership of civil administration of Finland (now based at Turku) by the new Governor-General, Johannes Balthasar von Campenhausen.

Frederick, in what was his typical manner, dismissed Austrian capability; he sent his columns directly into a valley surrounded by Croatian sharpshooters.

The overall Austrian commander, George Browne, had never intended to make this a major battle, and so withdrew the entire force to Budin, approximately eight kilometers (5 mi) away.

[4] While at the University of Edinburgh, James Keith acquired a taste for literature and learning that secured him the esteem of the most distinguished savants of Europe.

[23] His experiences in the Jacobite uprisings, and his observations of the contentious competition between and among the clan chieftains, offered him the opportunity early to learn the pitfalls of command, the arts of negotiation, and the importance of listening and diplomacy.

At his final battle, he had remonstrated with the king about establishing the camp at Hochkirch, with the Austrians looming in the heights around them, pointing out that staying in the village was suicide.

Hochkirch erected a stone tablet inscribed to Keith outside its church, to stand with others dedicated to the victims of Prussia's defeat by Austria on 14 October 1758.