Person:Francis Semple (7)

Hon. Francis Sempill

• Francis, 2nd Lord Sempill of Dykehead, was born in or around 1705 at the Chateau of St Germain-en-Laye, baptised a Catholic and educated at the Scots College, Douai. He grew up within the Jacobite ambience, fully conversant also with the customs of the French Court of Versailles. From 1730 onwards, he became one of the most prominent and active Jacobite agents in France, and came to act as an unofficial Ambassador of KING JAMES III & VIII to the Court of Louis XV. As the pace of Jacobite intrigue increased during the 1730s, William MacGregor (known as Drummond of Balhaldy) was sent to Paris to work with Sempill on behalf of a group of seven prominent Scottish Jacobites, with as core member, James Drummond, 3rd Duke of Perth, known simply as The Association. With Balhaldy and John Murray of Broughton, Sempill became a principal link to followers of the Stuart cause in Scotland and England. He deliberately exaggerated Jacobite strength and lied to win French support, and as a result made enemies among both French and Jacobites. The Pretender did not improve matters by setting up a second agent in Paris, Daniel O'Brien (later Jacobite Earl of Lismore).

• After the death of Cardinal Fleury, Sempill sent Louis XV a memoir requesting support for a restoration of the Stuart line, and a full-scale invasion of Britain was planned towards the end of 1743. This resulted in Prince Charles Edward's travelling to Paris, where he stayed at Sempill's house on the rue de l'Estrapade. Jacobites in France now divided into two factions: King James's party, comprising Sempill, Balhaldy, and O'Brien, and the Prince's party, made up of Thomas Sheridan, his old governor, the Earl Marischal, and the Irish Non-Juror clergyman George Kelly, who became Charles's evil genius. While Sempill and O'Brien quarrelled over who really spoke for the king, Sempill damaged his own cause by continuing to exaggerate potential support in Scotland for the invasion. Outmanoeuvred by Kelly, Sempill worked hard to retain James's confidence because of his financial dependence on Rome. James was probably aware of his agent's exaggeration, but it suited him to allow Louis to believe that support in Britain was greater than it actually was. The planned French expedition was abandoned in the summer of 1744, by which time Prince Charles had lost trust in Sempill. He complained that `after making such a nois [sic] of his being able to do a great deal, he does nothing', forbade him contact with the French Court, and scathingly called him 'Lord Simple'. Like the French, Sempill knew nothing of the Prince's planned rising in Scotland.

• Sempill worked to persuade Louis to mount an invasion during the rising of 1745. Early in the following year, he was at Ostend, acting as intermediary to English followers and ready to sail, but the Battle of Culloden and a French desire for peace destroyed that hope. By now Sempill's criticism had infuriated the French and annoyed King James. He probably had a hand in the preparation of a lengthy `Mémoire d'un Ecossais' (now in the French Foreign Ministry archives, Quai d'Orsay, Paris), inspired by Cameron of Lochiel, which was sent to Louis XV in April 1747 in the hope of rekindling interest. The memoir was ignored, bringing to an end Sempill's career in which intense loyalty to Jacobitism had lured him into a life built around wild rumour and lies. He married Lady Mary Caryll, daughter of Kenneth Mackenzie, 4th Earl and 1st Jacobite Marquess of Seaforth by his wife, the Lady Frances Herbert, daughter of William Herbert, 3rd Baron and 1st Earl, Marquess and Duke of Powis, and widow of the Hon. John Caryll of Harting, Susssex, son of John Caryll, 2nd Baron Caryll of Durford, Jacobite and friend of Alexander Pope, and his wife Johanna Paston-Bedingfeld, of Oxburgh, Norfolk, and mother of John Baptist Caryll, 3rd Baron Caryll of Durford and Jacobite Secretary of State in Rome of KING CHARLES III. Mary, Lady Sempill died on 3 April 1740 and Francis, 2nd Lord Sempill of Dykehead died on 9 December 1748. He was buried in the Church of St André, Chartres.

• The Jacobite Peerage of Ruvigny does not indicate whether Lord and Lady Sempill had issue, and it has been supposed that, with his death in 1748, this title became extinct. However, it is highly probable that this is not the case, and that there are heirs to this dormant Jacobite Peerage.

• Francis (Sempill), second Lord Sempill, eldest son and heir, being described as such in his father’s Admon. He was an active Jacobite, 1740-1745. He died 9th December 1748, and was buried at St. Andrews, Chartres, in France. He was probably the Francis Sempill who married Lady Mary, widow of the Hon. John Caryll, daughter of Kenneth (Mackenzie), first Marquis of Seaforth [S], by Lady Frances, daughter of William (Herbert), first Duke of Powis [E]. She was buried at Harting, co. Sussex, 16 April 1740.

• Bonhams: SCOTS ABROADThe Scottish Sale Edinburgh, 22 Aug 2003 (Auction 10198)

Papers relating to Francis Lord Sempill & his brother Hugh - Certificate of licentiate in Law, to Franciscus Xavierius de Sempill, from University of Paris, 31 March 1738, on vellum, previous folds. - Notarial Act certifying that Guillaume drumont de Versailles, Baron Balhaldie ‘chef de tribu des Macgregoires en Ecosse’ living in Paris, Archibald Cameron, Captain of Grenadiers in the Regiment ‘D’Albany Ecossaise’, & Jacques de Buttler, Irish Gentleman… have witnessed that Francis Sempill….and his wife Elizabeth Abercrombie, died without children at Chartres on 20th Sept. 1748 leaving as his heir Hugues Francois Xavier de Sempill his own brother, previous folds, dated 13 Dec. 1748 - Undertaking by Alexander Buchan, Merchant in London to Marguarite More alias Johnstone (wife of William More), and her children..to recover debts from the late Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, dated London 13 July 1648. (3)

Clan Sempill

1.   Marquis Of Ruvigny And Raineval. The Jacobite Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Grants of Honour: Extracted, By Permission, From The Stuart Papers Now In Possession Of His Majesty The King At Windsor Castle, And Supplemented By Biographical And Genealogical Notes. (Edinburgh, Scotland: T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1904)
   Page 164, 165.

   Francis (Sempill), second Lord Sempill, eldest son and heir, being described as such in his father’s Admon. He was an active Jacobite, 1740-1745. He died 9th December 1748, and was buried at St. Andrews, Chartres, in France. He was probably the Francis Sempill who married Lady Mary, widow of the Hon. John Caryll, daughter of Kenneth (Mackenzie), first Marquis of Seaforth [S], by Lady Frances, daughter of William (Herbert), first Duke of Powis [E]. She was buried at Harting, co. Sussex, 16 April 1740.

2.   Jacobite Peerage, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.

   Lords of Parliament in the Peerage of Scotland
   Title: Lord Sempill of Dykehead
   Date of Creation: 1712 (?)
   Current Status: Dormant
   Notes: Francis Sempill, 2nd Lord Sempill of Dykehead, Jacobite agent in Paris, 1740–1745, died 9 December 1748.

3.   Francis Sempill, in Lundy, Darryl. The Peerage: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.