The son of Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, second Marquess of Northampton and Sir Walter Scott's friend, Margaret Douglas-Maclean-Clephane.

REFERENCES TO Charles Compton, third marquess of Northampton:

John Gibson Lockhart to Charlotte Lockhart Hope, 21 October 1853 in The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897)