Career
Knighted in 1618, in 1625 Wemyss was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1625, with a charter to the barony of New Wemyss in that province of Canada. In 1628 he was raised to the Peerage of Scotland as Lord Wemyss of Elcho, and in 1633 he was further honoured when he was made Lord Elcho and Methel and Earl of Wemyss, also in the Peerage of Scotland. Wemyss later supported the Scottish parliament against Charles I in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and died in 1649.