This page is concerned with the holders of the extinct title Earl of Douglas and the preceding feudal barons of Douglas, South Lanarkshire. The title was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1358 for William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas, son of Sir Archibald Douglas, Guardian of Scotland. The Earldom was forfeited by James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas in 1455.

The Earls of Douglas and their successors claimed descent from Sholto Douglas, a mythical figure dated by Godscroft to 767 AD. However, it is more likely that they were descendants of Flemish immigrants to Scotland, during the reign of David I. Through the marriage of William the Hardy, grandfather of the 1st Earl, to Eleanor de Lovaine, The Earls of Douglas could trace their ancestry to the Landgraves of Brabant, the Counts of Hainaut, and through them to Charles the Bald, grandson of the emperor Charlemagne. In the story of Sholto Douglas, his son William Douglas is a commander of forces sent by the mythical Scottish king Achaius (Eochaid?), to the court of Charlemagne to aid him in his wars against Desiderius, King of the Lombards. William Douglas is said to have settled in Piacenza where his descendants became powerful local magnates under the name Scotti/Scoto, and eventual leaders of the Guelf faction of that city.

Steven Hartley (born 12 August 1960, in Yorkshire) is a British actor known internationally for his television, film and theatre roles. He has appeared in leading roles on British television since 1985, including the series EastEnders from 1987-1989 and The Bill 2000-2002. He has continued to work constantly in TV in series such as Rumble, Strictly Confidential, Trial & Retribution, Sharman, Holby City, Casualty, Doctors, The Cut and most recently Merlin, The Borgias and Vera alongside Brenda Blethyn.

He has worked opposite notable actors on film Including Marlon Brando, Catherine Zeta Jones, Benicio del Toro, Lauren Bacall, Kristin Scott Thomas, Woody Harrelson and Jon Voight. His films include The Walker (2007), A Dog of Flanders (1999), Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992) and Young Toscanini (1988). Hartley's extensive theatre work includes reprising his role as Bill Sikes in the West End Musical Oliver! in 2009-2010 for producer Cameron Mackintosh, the third time Hartley has played the role since being cast by director Sam Mendes in 1996 and recently played a leading role in 'Fit and Proper people' for the Royal Shakespeare company.

James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor. Since his Broadway debut in 1957, Jones has spent more than five decades as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile actors" and has been termed "one of the greatest actors in American history." On November 12, 2011, Jones received an Honorary Academy Award.

He is well known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership.

James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, son of Robert Earl Jones (1910–2006), an actor, boxer, butler, and chauffeur who left the family shortly after James Earl's birth, and his wife Ruth (Connolly) Jones, a teacher and maid. Jones and his father reconciled many years later. Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents, farmers John Henry and Maggie Connolly. He is multiracial, with African, Irish, and Native American ancestry.

Jones describes his grandmother, Maggie, as "the most racist person I have ever known", thus forcing him to develop his own independent thinking. His grandmother was of Cherokee, Choctaw, and black ancestry.

Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, c. February 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing. He stood as a living counter-example to slaveholders' arguments that slaves did not have the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Many Northerners also found it hard to believe that such a great orator had been a slave.

Douglass wrote several autobiographies, eloquently describing his experiences in slavery in his 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, which became influential in its support for abolition. He wrote two more autobiographies, with his last, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, published in 1881 and covering events through and after the Civil War. After the Civil War, Douglass remained active in the United States' struggle to reach its potential as a "land of the free". Douglass actively supported women's suffrage. Without his approval he became the first African American nominated for Vice President of the United States as the running mate of Victoria Woodhull on the impracticable and small Equal Rights Party ticket. Douglass held multiple public offices.

The Mormaer or Earl of Angus was the ruler of the medieval Scottish province of Angus. The title, in the Peerage of Scotland, is currently held by the Duke of Hamilton.

Angus is one of the oldest attested Mormaerdoms, with the earliest attested Mormaer, Dubacan of Angus, known to have lived in the early 10th century, as recorded in the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba. Despite this, the Mormaers of Angus are among the most obscure of all. After the death of Mormaer Maol Chaluim, in probably about 1240, the Mormaerdom passed through his daughter to Gilbert de Umfraville.

Angus was, according to the doubtful and legendary text de Situ Albanie, one of the seven original mormaerdoms of the Pictish kingdom of Alba, said to have been occupied by seven brothers, of whom Angus (Oengus) was the eldest. The Gaelic male line ended with Matilda (fl. 1240), countess of Angus in her own right, who married, in 1243, Gilbert de Umfraville.

John Stewart of Bonkyll, Berwickshire, obtained the title Earl of Angus in a new line after the forfeiture of the de Umfraville line, though the latter family continued to use the title in England. This Stewart line ended with Margaret Stewart, countess of Angus in her own right, and widow of Thomas, Earl of Mar.