James Wemyss, 5th Earl of Wemyss married the heiress of Colonel Francis Charles Charteris. During the Jacobite rising of 1745 the earl's son, David Wemyss, Lord Elcho, joined the Jacobite leader, Charles Edward Stuart in Edinburgh. Lord Elcho accompanied Stuart into England and was also present at the Battle of Culloden. He then escaped to France and took part in Charles Edward Stuart's state entry into Paris. In his absence he was convicted of treason and his estates were forfeited to the Crown. He died in Paris in 1787. Consequently, the earl was instead succeeded by his second son, Francis, who changed his surname to that of his mother which was Charteris. It is from Francis that the present Earls of Wemyss and chiefs of Clan Charteris are descended. Meanwhile, the chiefship of the Clan Wemyss and the estates in Fife devolved upon the 5th earl's third son, James Wemyss (1726–1786), who was MP for Sutherland and married Lady Elizabeth Sutherland in 1757.