Douglas_Graham,_5th_Duke_of_Montrose

Douglas Graham, 5th Duke of Montrose

Douglas Graham, 5th Duke of Montrose

Scottish nobleman and soldier

Douglas Beresford Malise Ronald Graham, 5th Duke of Montrose, KT (7 November 1852 – 10 December 1925), styled Marquess of Graham until 1874, was a Scottish nobleman and soldier. He was Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 1916 to 1917.

Quick Facts His GraceThe Duke of MontroseKT, Lord Lieutenant of Stirlingshire ...
Montrose caricatured by Spy, published in Vanity Fair, 1882.

Early life

Born in 1852, Lord Douglas Graham was the third but elder surviving son of James Graham, 4th Duke of Montrose and Hon. Caroline Agnes Beresford, daughter of John Beresford, 2nd Baron Decies. He had two elder brothers, both named James and thus was not expected to succeed, but both died prematurely in succession.[1]

He was educated at Eton College and succeeded his father as Duke of Montrose in 1874.

Career

Montrose joined the Coldstream Guards in 1872, transferred to the 5th Royal Irish Lancers in 1874, and retired from active duty in 1878.[2] From October 1881 to January 1903, he was Colonel commanding the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, stationed at Stirling.[3] He served in the Second Boer War (medal and two clasps).[2] Montrose again saw active service fighting with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in the First World War. He later served as Captain-General of the Royal Company of Archers, the King's Bodyguard for Scotland.

Montrose was aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and George V successively.[2] He was Lord Lieutenant of Stirlingshire from 1885 to 1925, Hereditary Sheriff of Dumbartonshire (now Dunbartonshire), Lord Clerk Register from 1890 until his death, and Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1916–1917.[4] In January 1900 he accepted the Presidency of the Scotland Branch of the British Empire League.[5]

Montrose was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Thistle (KT) in 1879 and was Chancellor of the Order from 1917.[4]

Personal life

Lord Montrose married Violet Hermione Graham, daughter of Sir Frederick Graham 3rd Baronet and his wife Lady Jane Hermione Seymour, daughter of Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset.[6] They had five children:[6]

Montrose died in December 1925 in a nursing home at 6 Park Gardens in the Park District of Glasgow. He was buried at Buchanan Castle and passed on the title to his son the 6th Duke of Montrose.[6]

He owned 103,000 acres, with 68,000 acres in Stirlingshire and 32,000 acres in Perthshire.[7]

References

  1. [1]
    Lodge, Edmund; Innes, Anne; Innes, Eliza; Innes, Maria (1877). The Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire as at Present Existing. London: Hurst and Blackett. p. 423.
  2. [2]
    Addison, Henry Robert; Oakes, Charles Henry; Lawson, William John; Sladen, Douglas Brooke Wheelton (1914). Who's who. London: A. and C. Black. p. 1478.
  3. [3]
    "No. 27516". The London Gazette. 16 January 1903. p. 310.
  4. [4]
    Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1970). Armorial families: a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour. Rutland: Charles E. Tuttle. p. 790.
  5. [5]
    "Court Circular". The Times. 17 January 1900. p. 7.
  6. [6]
    Kidd, Charles (2008). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. London: Debrett's. p. 596.
  7. [7]
    The great landowners of Great Britain and Ireland
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