Part 48

KEITH, the name of an old Scottish family which derived its name from the barony of Keith in East Lothian, said to have been granted by Malcolm II., king of Scotland, to a member of the house for services against the Danes. The office of great marishal of Scotland, afterwards hereditary in the Keith family, may have been conferred at the same time; for it was confirmed, together with possession of the lands of Keith, to Sir Robert Keith by a charter of King Robert Bruce, and appears to have been held as annexed to the land by the tenure of grand serjeanty. Sir Robert Keith commanded the Scottish horse at Bannockburn, and was killed at the battle of Neville's Cross in 1346. At the close of the 14th century Sir William Keith, by exchange of lands with Lord Lindsay, obtained the crag of Dunnottar in Kincardineshire, where he built the castle of Dunnottar, which became the stronghold of his descendants. He died about 1407. In 1430 a later Sir William Keith was created Lord Keith, and a few years afterwards earl marishal, and these titles remained in the family till 1716. William, fourth earl marishal (d. 1581), was one of the guardians of Mary queen of Scots during her minority, and was a member of her privy council on her return to Scotland. While refraining from extreme partisanship, he was an adherent of the Reformation; he retired into private life at Dunnottar Castle about 1567, thereby gaining the sobriquet "William of the Tower." He was reputed to be the wealthiest man in Scotland. His eldest daughter Anne married the regent Murray. His grandson George, 5th earl marishal (c. 1553-1623), was one of the most cultured men of his time. He was educated at King's College, Aberdeen, where he became a proficient classical scholar, afterwards studying divinity under Theodore Beza at Geneva. He was a firm Protestant, and took an active part in the affairs of the kirk. His high character and abilities procured him the appointment of special ambassador to Denmark to arrange the marriage of James VI. with the Princess Anne. He was subsequently employed on a number of important commissions; but he preferred literature to public affairs, and about 1620 he retired to Dunnottar, where he died in 1623. He is chiefly remembered as the founder in 1593 of the Marischal College in the university of Aberdeen, which he richly endowed. From an uncle he inherited the title of Lord Altrie about 1590. William, 7th earl marishal (c. 1617-1661), took a prominent part in the Civil War, being at first a leader of the covenanting party in north-east Scotland, and the most powerful opponent of the marquess of Huntly. He co-operated with Montrose in Aberdeenshire and neighbouring counties against the Gordons. With Montrose he signed the Bond of Cumbernauld in August 1640, but took no active steps against the popular party till 1648, when he joined the duke of Hamilton in his invasion of England, escaping from the rout at Preston. In 1650 Charles II. was entertained by the marishal at Dunnottar; and in 1651 the Scottish regalia were left for safe keeping in his castle. Taken prisoner in the same year, he was committed to the Tower and was excluded from Cromwell's Act of Grace. He was made a privy councillor at the Restoration and died in 1661. Sir John Keith (d. 1714), brother of the 7th earl marishal, was, at the Restoration, given the hereditary office of knight marishal of Scotland, and in 1677 was created earl of Kintore, and Lord Keith of Inverurie and Keith-Hall, a reward for his share in preserving the regalia of Scotland, which were secretly conveyed from Dunnottar to another hiding-place, when the castle was besieged by Cromwell's troops, and which Sir John, perilously to himself, swore he had carried abroad and delivered to Charles II., thus preventing further search. From him are descended the earls of Kintore.

GEORGE, 10th earl marishal (c. 1693-1778), served under Marlborough, and like his brother Francis, Marshal Keith (q.v.), was a zealous Jacobite, taking part in the rising of 1715, after which he escaped to the continent. In the following year he was attainted, his estates and titles being forfeited to the Crown. He lived for many years in Spain, where he concerned himself with Jacobite intrigues, but he took no part in the rebellion of 1745, proceeding about that year to Prussia, where he became, like his brother, intimate with Frederick the Great. Frederick employed him in several diplomatic posts, and he is said to have conveyed valuable information to the earl of Chatham, as a reward for which he received a pardon from George II., and returned to Scotland in 1759. His heir male, on whom, but for the attainder of 1716, his titles would have devolved, was apparently his cousin Alexander Keith of Ravelston, to whom the attainted earl had sold the castle and lands of Dunnottar in 1766. From Alexander Keith was descended, through the female line, Sir Patrick Keith Murray of Ochtertyre, who sold the estates of Dunnottar and Ravelston. After the attainder of 1716 the right of the Keiths of Ravelston to be recognized as the representatives of the earls marishal was disputed by Robert Keith (1681-1757), bishop of Fife, a member of another collateral branch of the family. The bishop was a writer of some repute, his chief work, _The History of the Affairs of the Church and State of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1734), being of considerable value for the reigns of James V., James VI., and Mary Queen of Scots. He also published a _Catalogue of the Bishops of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1755), and other less important historical and theological works.

ROBERT KEITH (d. 1774), descended from a younger son of the 2nd earl marishal, was British minister in Vienna in 1748, and subsequently held other important diplomatic appointments, being known to his numerous friends, among whom were the leading men of letters of his time, as "Ambassador Keith." His son, Sir Robert Murray Keith (1730-1795), was on Lord George Sackville's staff at the battle of Minden. He became colonel of a regiment (the 87th foot) known as Keith's Highlanders, who won distinction in the continental wars, but were disbanded in 1763; he was then employed in the diplomatic service, in which he achieved considerable success by his honesty, courage, and knowledge of languages. In 1781 he became lieutenant-general; in 1789 he was made a privy councillor.

From the Keith family through the female line was descended George Keith Elphinstone, Baron Keith of Stonehaven, Marishal and afterwards Viscount Keith (q.v.), whose titles became extinct at the death of his daughter Margaret, Baroness Keith, in 1867.

See _Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland_, edited by J. Bain (4 vols., Edinburgh, 1881-1888); Peter Buchan, _An Account of the Ancient and Noble Family of Keith_ (Edinburgh, 1828); _Memoirs and Correspondence of Sir Robert Murray Keith_, edited by Mrs. Gillespie Smyth (London, 1849); John Spalding, _Memorialls of the Trubles in Scotland, 1624-1645_ (2 vols., Spalding Club Publ. 21, 23, Aberdeen, 1850-1851); Sir Robert Douglas, _The Peerage of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1813); G.E.C., _Complete Peerage_, vol. iv. (London, 1892). (R. J. M.)

KEITH, FRANCIS EDWARD JAMES (1696-1758), Scottish soldier and Prussian field marshal, was the second son of William, 9th earl marishal of Scotland, and was born on the 11th of June 1696 at the castle of Inverugie near Peterhead. Through his careful education under Robert Keith, bishop of Fife, and subsequently at Edinburgh University in preparation for the legal profession, he acquired that taste for literature which afterwards secured him the esteem of the most distinguished savants of Europe; but at an early period his preference for a soldier's career was decided. The rebellion of 1715, in which he displayed qualities that gave some augury of his future eminence, compelled him to seek safety on the Continent. After spending two years in Paris, chiefly at the university, he in 1719 took part in the ill-starred expedition of the Pretender to the Highlands of Scotland. He then passed some time at Paris and Madrid in obscurity and poverty, but eventually obtained a colonelcy in the Spanish army, and, it is said, took part in the siege of Gibraltar (1726-27). Finding his Protestantism a barrier to promotion, he obtained from the king of Spain a recommendation to Peter II. of Russia, from whom he received (1728) the command of a regiment of the guards. He displayed in numerous campaigns the calm, intelligent and watchful valour which was his chief characteristic, obtaining the rank of general of infantry and the reputation of being one of the ablest officers in the Russian service as well as a capable and liberal civil administrator. Judging, however, that his rewards were not commensurate with his merits, he in 1747 offered his services to Frederick II. of Prussia, who at once gave him the rank of field marshal, in 1749 made him governor of Berlin, and soon came to cherish towards him, as towards his brother, the 10th earl marishal, a strong personal regard. In 1756 the Seven Years' War broke out. Keith was employed in high command from the first, and added to his Russian reputation on every occasion by resolution and promptitude of action, not less than by care and skill. In 1756 he commanded the troops covering the investment of Pirna, and distinguished himself at Lobositz. In 1757 he commanded at the siege of Prague; later in this same campaign he defended Leipzig against a greatly superior force, was present at Rossbach, and, while the king was fighting the campaign of Leuthen, conducted a foray into Bohemia. In 1758 he took a prominent part in the unsuccessful Moravian campaign, after which he withdrew from the army to recruit his broken health. He returned in time for the autumn campaign in the Lausitz, and was killed on the 14th of October 1758 at the battle of Hochkirch. His body was honourably buried on the field by Marshal Daun and General Lacy, the son of his old commander in Russia, and was shortly afterwards transferred by Frederick to the garrison church of Berlin. Many memorials were erected to him by the king, Prince Henry, and others. Keith died unmarried, but had several children by his mistress, Eva Mertens, a Swedish prisoner captured by him in the war of 1741-43. In 1889 the 1st Silesian infantry regiment No. 22 of the German army received his name.

See K. A. Varnhagen von Ense, _Biographische Denkmale_, part 7 (1844); _Fragment of a Memoir of Field-Marshal James Keith, written by himself_ (1714-1734; edited by Thomas Constable for the Spalding Club, 1843); T. Carlyle, _Frederick the Great, passim_; V. Paczynaski-Tenczyn, _Leben des G. F. M. Jakob Keith_ (Berlin, 1889); Peter Buchan, Account of the Family of Keith (Edinburgh, 1878); Anon., _Memoir of Marshal Keith_ (Peterhead, 1869); Pauli, _Leben grosser Helden_, part iv.

KEITH, GEORGE (c. 1639-1716), British divine, was born at Aberdeen about 1639 and was educated for the Presbyterian ministry at Marischal College in his native city. In 1662 he became a Quaker and worked with Robert Barclay (q.v.). After being imprisoned for preaching in 1676 he went to Holland and Germany on an evangelistic tour with George Fox and William Penn. Two further terms of imprisonment in England induced him (1684) to emigrate to America, where he was surveyor-general in East New Jersey and then a schoolmaster at Philadelphia. He travelled in New England defending Quakerism against the attacks of Increase and Cotton Mather, but after a time fell out with his own folk on the subject of the atonement, accused them of deistic views, and started a community of his own called "Christian Quakers" or "Keithians." He endeavoured to advance his views in London, but the Yearly Meeting of 1694 disowned him, and he established a society at Turner's Hall in Philpot Lane, where he so far departed from Quaker usage as to administer the two sacraments. In 1700 he conformed to the Anglican Church, and from 1702 to 1704 was an agent of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in America. He died on the 27th of March 1716 at Edburton in Sussex, of which parish he was rector. Among his writings were _The Deism of William Penn and his Brethren_ (1699); _The Standard of the Quakers examined; or, an Answer to the Apology of Robert Barclay_ (1702); _A Journal of Travels_ (1706). Gilbert Burnet, bishop of Salisbury, a fellow-Aberdonian, speaks of him as "the most learned man that ever was in that sect, and well versed in the Oriental tongues, philosophy and mathematics."

KEITH, GEORGE KEITH ELPHINSTONE, VISCOUNT (1746-1823), British admiral, fifth son of the 10th Lord Elphinstone, was born in Elphinstone Tower, near Stirling, on the 7th of January 1746. Two of his brothers went to sea, and he followed their example by entering the navy in 1761, in the "Gosport," then commanded by Captain Jervis, afterwards Earl St Vincent. In 1767 he made a voyage to the East Indies in the Company's service, and put L2000 lent him by an uncle to such good purpose in a private trading venture that he laid the foundation of a handsome fortune. He became lieutenant in 1770, commander in 1772, and post captain in 1775. During the war in America he was employed against the privateers, and with a naval brigade at the occupation of Charleston, S.C. In January 1781, when in command of the "Warwick" (50), he captured a Dutch 50-gun ship which had beaten off an English vessel of equal strength a few days before. After peace was signed he remained on shore for ten years, serving in Parliament as member first for Dumbartonshire, and then for Stirlingshire. When war broke out again in 1793 he was appointed to the "Robust" (74), in which he took part in the occupation of Toulon by lord Hood. He particularly distinguished himself by beating a body of the French ashore at the head of a naval brigade of English and Spaniards. He was entrusted with the duty of embarking the fugitives when the town was evacuated. In 1794 he was promoted rear-admiral, and in 1795 he was sent to occupy the Dutch colonies at the Cape of Good Hope and in India. He had a large share in the capture of the Cape in 1795, and in August 1796 captured a whole Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay. In the interval he had gone on to India, where his health suffered, and the capture at Saldanha was effected on his way home. When the Mutiny at the Nore broke out in 1797 he was appointed to the command, and was soon able to restore order. He was equally successful at Plymouth, where the squadron was also in a state of effervescence. At the close of 1798 he was sent as second in command to St Vincent. It was for a long time a thankless post, for St Vincent was at once half incapacitated by ill-health and very arbitrary, while Nelson, who considered that Keith's appointment was a personal slight to himself, was peevish and insubordinate. The escape of a French squadron which entered the Mediterranean from Brest in May 1799 was mainly due to jarrings among the British naval commanders. Keith followed the enemy to Brest on their retreat, but was unable to bring them to action. He returned to the Mediterranean in November as commander-in-chief. He co-operated with the Austrians in the siege of Genoa, which surrendered on the 4th of June 1800. It was however immediately afterwards lost in consequence of the battle of Marengo, and the French made their re-entry so rapidly that the admiral had considerable difficulty in getting his ships out of the harbour. The close of 1801 and the beginning of the following year were spent in transporting the army sent to recover Egypt from the French. As the naval force of the enemy was completely driven into port, the British admiral had no opportunity of an action at sea, but his management of the convoy carrying the troops, and of the landing at Aboukir, was greatly admired. He was made a baron of the United Kingdom--an Irish barony having been conferred on him in 1797. On the renewal of the war in 1803 he was appointed commander-in-chief in the North Sea, which post he held till 1807. In February 1812 he was appointed commander-in-chief in the Channel, and in 1814 he was raised to a viscounty. During his last two commands he was engaged first in overlooking the measures taken to meet a threatened invasion, and then in directing the movements of the numerous small squadrons and private ships employed on the coasts of Spain and Portugal, and in protecting trade. He was at Plymouth when Napoleon surrendered and was brought to England in the "Bellerophon" by Captain Maitland (1777-1839). The decisions of the British government were expressed through him to the fallen Emperor. Lord Keith refused to be led into disputes, and confined himself to declaring steadily that he had his orders to obey. He was not much impressed by the appearance of his illustrious charge, and thought that the airs of Napoleon and his suite were ridiculous. Lord Keith died on the 10th of March 1823 at Tullyallan, his property in Scotland, and was buried in the parish church. A portrait of him by Owen is in the Painted Hall in Greenwich. He was twice married: in 1787 to Jane Mercer, daughter of Colonel William Mercer of Aldie; and in 1808 to Hester Maria Thrale, who is spoken of as "Queenie" in Boswell's _Life of Johnson_ and Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_. He had a daughter by each marriage, but no son. Thus the viscounty became extinct on his death, but the English and Irish baronies descended to his elder daughter Margaret (1788-1867), who married the Comte de Flahault de la Billarderie, only to become extinct on her death.

There is a panegyrical _Life of Lord Keith_ by Alex. Allardyce (Edinburgh, 1882); and biographical notices will be found in John Marshall's _Royal Naval Biography_, i. 43 (1823-1835), and the _Naval Chronicle_, X. 1. (D. H.)

KEITH, a police burgh of Banffshire, Scotland, on the Isla, 53(1/4) m. N.W. of Aberdeen by the Great North of Scotland railway. Pop. (1901), 4753. A branch of the Highland railway also gives access to Elgin, and there is a line to Buckie and Portessie on the Moray Firth. The burgh includes Old Keith and New Keith on the east bank of the Isla, and Fife-Keith on the west bank. Though Old Keith has a charter dating from William the Lion it fell into gradual decay; New Keith, founded in the 18th century by the second earl of Seafield, being better situated for the growth of a town. Fife-Keith has sprung up since 1816. The principal public buildings include the Turner memorial hospital, the Longmore hall, and the Institute. In the Roman Catholic church there is a painting of the "Incredulity of St Thomas," presented by Charles X. of France. The industries include manufactures of tweeds, blankets, agricultural implements, and boots and shoes; there are also distilleries, breweries, flour mills, and lime and manure works. But the main importance of Keith lies in the fact that it is the centre of the agricultural trade of the shire. The "Summer Eve Fair" held in September is the largest cattle and horse fair in the north of Scotland; the town is also the headquarters of the dressed-meat trade in the north.

KEJ, or KECH, the chief place in a district of the province of Makran in Baluchistan, which has given its name to Kej-Makran, as distinguished from Persian Makran. There is no town, but a number of small villages dominated by a fort built upon a rock, on the eastern bank of the Kej River. This fort, like many others similarly placed throughout the country, is supposed to be impregnable, but is of no strength except against the matchlocks of the surrounding tribes. Kej (or Kiz) was an important trade centre in the days of Arab supremacy in Sind, and the rulers of Kalat at various times marched armies into the province with a view to maintaining their authority. At the beginning of the 19th century it had the reputation of a commercial centre, trading through Panjgur with Kandahar, with Karachi via Bela, and with Muscat and the Persian Gulf by the seaport of Gwadar, distant about 80 m. The present Khan of Kalat exercises but a feeble sway over this portion of his dominion, although he appoints a governor to the province. The principal tribe residing around Kej is that of the Gichki, who claim to be of Rajput origin, and to have settled in Makran during the 17th century, having been driven out of Rajputana. The climate during summer is too hot for Europeans. During winter, however, it is temperate. The principal exports consist of dates, which are considered of the finest quality. A local revolt against Kalat rendered an expedition against Kej necessary in 1898. Colonel Mayne reduced the fortress and restored order in the surrounding districts.

KEKULE, FRIEDRICH AUGUST (1829-1896), German chemist, was born at Darmstadt on the 7th of September 1829. While studying architecture at Giessen he came under the influence of Liebig and was induced to take up chemistry. From Giessen he went to Paris, and then, after a short sojourn in Switzerland, he visited England. Both in Paris and in England he enjoyed personal intercourse with the leading chemists of the period. On his return to Germany he started a small chemical laboratory at Heidelberg, where, with a very slender equipment, he carried out several important researches. In 1858 he was appointed professor of chemistry at Ghent, and in 1865 was called to Bonn to fill a similar position, which he held till his death in that town on the 13th of June 1896. Kekule's main importance lies in the far-reaching contributions which he made to chemical theory, especially in regard to the constitution of the carbon compounds. The doctrine of atomicity had already been enunciated by E. Frankland, when in 1858 Kekule published a paper in which, after giving reasons for regarding carbon as a tetravalent element, he set forth the essential features of his famous doctrine of the linking of atoms. He explained that in substances containing several carbon atoms it must be assumed that some of the affinities of each carbon atom are bound by the affinities of the atoms of other elements contained in the substance, and some by an equal number of the affinities of the other carbon atoms. The simplest case is when two carbon atoms are combined so that one affinity of the one is tied to one affinity of the other; two, therefore, of the affinities of the two atoms are occupied in keeping the two atoms together, and only the remaining six are available for atoms of other elements. The next simplest case consists in the mutual interchange of two affinity units, and so on. This conception led Kekule to his "closed-chain" or "ring" theory of the constitution of benzene which has been called the "most brilliant piece of prediction to be found in the whole range of organic chemistry," and this in turn led in particular to the elucidation of the constitution of the "aromatic compounds," and in general to new methods of chemical synthesis and decomposition, and to a deeper insight into the composition of numberless organic bodies and their mutual relations. Professor F. R. Japp, in the Kekule memorial lecture he delivered before the London Chemical Society on the 15th of December 1897, declared that three-fourths of modern organic chemistry is directly or indirectly the product of Kekule's benzene theory, and that without its guidance and inspiration the industries of the coal-tar colours and artificial therapeutic agents in their present form and extension would have been inconceivable.

Many of Kekule's papers appeared in the _Annalen der Chemie_, of which he was editor, and he also published an important work, _Lehrbuch der organischen Chemie_, of which the first three volumes are dated 1861, 1866 and 1882, while of the fourth only one small section was issued in 1887.