Margaret Kennedy, Marchioness of Ailsa (1772 â 5 January 1848) was a Scottish noblewoman.
Margaret was born in 1772. She was the second daughter of Mary ( Baird) Erskine and John Erskine of Dun, Forfarshire. He had two siblings, Capt. William John Erskine of the 9th Light Dragoons (who was killed in the Irish Rebellion at the Battle of Kilcullen), and Alicia Erskine of Dun (who died unmarried in 1824).
Her paternal grandparents were John Erskine of Dun (only son of David Erskine, Lord Dun), and Margaret Inglis (a daughter of Sir John Inglis, 2nd Baronet). Her mother was the eldest daughter of William Baird, Esq. of Newbyth House, Haddingtonshire. Her maternal uncle was Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet.
On 1 June 1793, she married Archibald Kennedy, Lord Kennedy, who the following year succeeded as 12th Earl of Cassilis. Margaret inherited the House of Dun, a Georgian house, in 1824, and achieved the rank of Marchioness when her husband was created Marquess of Ailsa in 1831. Together, they had six children:
Lord Ailsa died in 1846 and was succeeded in his titles by their grandson, Archibald. Lady Ailsa died on 5 January 1848.
Through her eldest son Archibald, she was a grandmother of nine, including Archibald Kennedy, 2nd Marquess of Ailsa.
Through her second son John, she was a grandmother of three, Capt. William Henry Kennedy-Erskine of the 17th Lancers; Wilhelmina "Mina" Kennedy-Erskine (who married his first cousin, William FitzClarence, 2nd Earl of Munster); and Augusta Anne "Millicent" Mary Kennedy-Erskine (who married James Hay Erskine-Wemyss, son of Rear-Admiral James Erskine Wemyss).
Margaret Erskine of Dun is the title given to the painting by William Owen which can be found on the first floor of Culzean Castle.