John Scott, 9th Duke of Buccleuch

Walter Francis John Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 9th Duke of Buccleuch and 11th Duke of Queensberry, KT, VRD, JP, DL (28 September 1923 – 4 September 2007) was a Scottish Peer, politician and landowner. He served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in the Second World War, and represented Edinburgh North in the House of Commons for 13 years.

He owned the largest private landed estate in the United Kingdom, covering some convert|280000|acre|km2. The estate includes Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and Galloway, Bowhill House in Selkirkshire, and Boughton House in Northamptonshire. A fourth house, Dalkeith Palace, near Edinburgh, is let to the West Central Wisconsin Consortium, which uses the palace as a base for its study abroad program.

Background

The only son of the 8th Duke of Buccleuch and 10th Duke of Queensberry and the former Mary Lascelles. His aunt was Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. His two sisters married the 10th Duke of Northumberland and politician Ian Gilmour.

Known as Johnny Dalkeith, from his courtesy title of Earl of Dalkeith, he was educated at Eton.

Military career

In 1942, he joined the Royal Navy as an ordinary seaman, and was commissioned as an officer the following year, serving on destroyers. He continued as a Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and the Royal Naval Reserve after the war until 1971. He was awarded the Volunteer Reserve Decoration in 1959. He was appointed Honorary Captain in the Royal Naval Reserve in 1988. He was a Captain of the Royal Company of Archers, Lord President of the Council and Silver Stick for Scotland. He was a member of the Roxburghe Club.

Parliamentary career

After the war, he studied at Christ Church, Oxford, where he joined the Bullingdon Club. He briefly worked as a merchant banker in the City of London, and then as a director of an insurance company.

As Earl of Dalkeith, he was a Roxburghshire County Councillor from 1958. He contested Edinburgh East in the 1959 general election, losing to the incumbent Labour MP George Willis, but was elected as a Unionist (and latterly Conservative) Member of Parliament for Edinburgh North from a by-election in 1960. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Lord Advocate, William Rankine Milligan, in 1961 to 1962, then briefly as PPS to the Secretary of State for Scotland Jack Maclay from January 1962 to July that year. After Maclay was sacked in Harold Macmillan's Night of the Long Knives, he was PPS to Maclay's successor, Michael Noble, from 1962 to 1964. He defeated a young Robin Cook in the 1970 general election.

His horse fell on him in a hunting accident near Hawick in 1971, and he was paralysed from the chest down with a fractured spine. He spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair, and became a noted spokesman for disability organisations. He was the first MP after the Second World War to enter the House of Commons chamber in a wheelchair, where he was greeted by Harold Wilson, who crossed the floor to shake his hand.

He left the House of Commons on his succession to the Dukedom in 1973. He continued as an active member of the House of Lords, where he spoke particularly on rural, disability and constitutional issues, until the removal of the hereditary peers in the reforms of 1999.

His estimated personal fortune of $680m is supplemented by a further c.£400m held by the Buccleuch Group, his holding company. The Duke was in the headlines in late 2003 when the "Madonna with the Yarnwinder" by Leonardo da Vinci was stolen from Drumlanrig Castle.

Family

On 10 January 1953 he married Jane McNeill, a leading fashion model for Norman Hartnell, at a ceremony at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh attended by the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, and most of the royal family. She was the only child of John McNeill, QC, and Amy Yvonne Maynard. They had 4 children:
*Richard Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch (b. 14 Feb 1954), married Lady Elizabeth Kerr and has issue: Lady Louisa Scott (b. 1982), Walter Scott, Earl of Dalkeith (b. 1984), Lord Charles Scott (b. 1987) and Lady Amabel Scott (b. 1992)
*The Lord William Montagu-Douglas-Scott (b. 9 Jan 1957) married Hafize Berrin Torolsan, no issue
*The Lady Charlotte-Anne Montagu-Douglas-Scott (b. 9 Jan 1966), married Count Bernard de Castellane, two children: Boniface Louis Albert Charles de Castellane (b. 1993) and Rose Jane Michele Elisabeth de Castellane (b. 1996)
*The Lord Damian Montagu-Douglas-Scott (b. 8 Oct 1970), married Elizabeth Powis, two children: Alexander Edward James Scott (b. 2002) and Georgia Lucy Alice Scott (b. 2006)

Death

The Duke died after a short illness at one of his three homes, Bowhill House, in Selkirkshire, Scottish Borders, on 4 September, 2007. He was survived by his wife, daughter and three sons.

Chairmanships

*RADAR (1977–1993); President (1993–2007)
*Buccleuch Heritage Trust (1985–2007)
*Living Landscape Trust (1985–2007)
*Association of Lord-Lieutenants (1990–2007)
*President of The Royal Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland (1969)
*St Andrew’s Ambulance Association (1972–2007)
*Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institute (1973–2007)
*Scottish National Institution for the War Blinded (1973–2007)
*Royal Blind Asylum and School (1976)
*Galloway Cattle Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1976)
*East of England Agricultural Society (1976)
*Commonwealth Forestry Association (1979–1999)
*Vice President of The Royal Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children
*President of The Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club (1982)
*Royal Scottish Forestry Society (1994–1996)
*Honorary President Animal Diseases Research Association (1973–1995)

Titles & Honours

Titles from birth

*Lord Eskdaill (1926–1935)
*Earl of Dalkeith (1935–1955)
*Earl of Dalkeith, DL (1955–1959)
*Earl of Dalkeith, VRD, DL (1959–1973)
*His Grace The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, VRD, DL (1973–1975)
*His Grace The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, VRD, JP, DL (1975–1978)
*His Grace The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, KT, VRD, JP, DL (1978–2007)

Honours

*Knight of the Order of the Thistle (1978); Chancellor (1992–2007)
*Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Decoration (1959)
*Justice of the Peace for the commission area of Roxburgh (1975)
*Deputy Lieutenant of Selkirkshire (1955)
*Deputy Lieutenant of Roxburghshire (1962)
*Deputy Lieutenant of Dumfriesshire (1974)
*Lord-Lieutenant of Roxburghshire (1974–1975)
*Lord-Lieutenant of Selkirk (1975)
*Lord Lieutenant of Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale (1975–1998)
*Bledisloe Gold Medal (1992)

Honorary military appointments

*Captain, Royal Naval Reserve (1988–2007).

External links

* [http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1413372007 News report] , "The Scotsman", 5 September, 2007
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/05/db0501.xml Obituary] , "The Daily Telegraph", 5 September, 2007
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2387744.ece Obituary] , "The Times", 5 September, 2007
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,2162973,00.html Obituary] , "The Guardian", 6 September, 2007
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2934310.ece Obituary] , "The Independent", 6 September, 2007
* [http://www.buccleuch.com/latestnews/content/dukeofbuccleuch Obituary] , Buccleuch Group
* [http://www.buccleuch.com/ Buccleuch Estates website]
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp06163 Photograph of Duke in 1992]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3258086.stm BBC article on theft of da Vinci painting]
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/p155.htm Biographical entry at thepeerage.com]
* [http://www.burkes-peerage.net/sites/Contents/book/UK/FHP/Peerage/fhp-BUCCLEUCHANDQUEENSBERRY.asp Biographical entry at burkes-peerage.net]