Charles Douglas-Home, 12th Earl Of Home

Charles Alexander Douglas-Home, known as the 12th Earl of Home, was born on 11 April 1834 at The Hirsel near Coldstream. He was the son of Cospatrick Douglas-Home, the 11th Earl of Home, and Hon. Lucy Elizabeth Montagu-Scott, daughter of Henry, 2nd Baron Montagu of Boughton, and Hon. Jane Douglas, daughter of Archibald, 1st Baron Douglas.

He received education at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1877, he inherited the Douglas and Angus estates from his mother, which included Douglas Castle, Bothwell Castle, and approximately 104,000 acres of land across Lanarkshire, Roxburghshire, and Berwickshire. That same year, his name was legally changed to Charles Alexander Douglas-Home by Royal Licence.

In 1881, he inherited his father's peerage titles and his estate at The Hirsel, Berwickshire.

His official roles included serving as Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire from 1879 to 1890 and as Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire from 1890 to 1915. Additionally, he held the position of aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria from 1887 to 1897 and served as Captain of the Royal Company of Archers. He also attained the rank of Honorary Colonel in the service of the 3rd and 4th Battalions, Scottish Rifles and the Lanarkshire Yeomanry.

In 1899, he was invested as a Knight Companion of the Order of the Thistle and was awarded the Territorial Decoration.

On 18 August 1870, he married Maria Grey, daughter of Captain Charles Conrad Grey, RN, and great-niece of Charles, 2nd Earl Grey. They had five children:

- Charles Cospatrick Archibald Douglas-Home, 13th Earl of Home (1873–1951)

- Lady Mary Elizabeth Margaret Douglas-Home (died 1951), married Richard Meade, Lord Gillford

- Lady Issobel Charlotte Douglas-Home (died 1934), unmarried

- Lady Beatrix Douglas-Home (died 1940), married Sir Henry Dundas, 3rd Baronet of Arniston

- Lady Margaret Jane Douglas-Home (died 1955), married Reginald Walsh, 5th Baron Ormathwaite

In the 1880s, Lord Home, along with his cousin the 6th Duke of Buccleuch and the 3rd Earl of Malmesbury, collaborated to develop and establish the modern Labrador Retriever breed. Their work involved interbreeding lines originally imported from Newfoundland in the 1830s. The offspring from these efforts are considered ancestors of the contemporary Labrador Retriever.

Charles Alexander Douglas-Home passed away on 30 April 1918.