Lieutenant Colonel The Right Honourable
The Earl of Stair
KT DSO DL
Member of Parliament
for Wigtownshire
In office
January 1906 – 2 December 1914
Preceded bySir Herbert Maxwell
Succeeded byHew Hamilton Dalrymple
Personal details
Born(1879-02-01)1 February 1879
Died4 November 1961(1961-11-04) (aged 82)
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative Party
Unionist Party
SpouseViolet Evelyn Harford
ChildrenLady Jean Rankin
John Aymer Dalrymple, 13th Earl of Stair
Captain The Hon. Hew North Dalrymple
The Hon. Andrew William Henry Dalrymple
Major The Hon. Colin James Dalrymple
Military career
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1898–1917
RankLieutenant colonel
UnitScots Guards
Battles/warsSecond Boer War First World War
AwardsKnight of the Order of the Thistle
Distinguished Service Order

John James Hamilton Dalrymple, 12th Earl of Stair, KT, DSO, DL (1 February 1879 – 4 November 1961), styled Viscount Dalrymple between 1903 and 1914, was a Scottish soldier and Conservative Party, later Unionist Party, politician.

Military and political career

The son of John Dalrymple, 11th Earl of Stair, Dalrymple was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Scots Guards on 16 February 1898, and promoted to lieutenant on 11 October 1899. He fought in the Second Boer War, where he took part in the march to occupy the Boer capitals Bloemfontein (March 1900) and Pretoria (June 1900), and was present at the successive battles of Diamond Hill (11–12 June 1900) and Bergendal (21–27 August 1900).[1]

Following the end of hostilities in early June 1902, he left Cape Town on board the SS Orotava,[2] and arrived at Southampton the next month. He later fought in the First World War. He was captured by the Germans during the Great Retreat in 1914 and remained a prisoner until 1917 when he was repatriated for medical reasons, due to degradation in his eyesight.[3] He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1919, and retired the same year at the rank of lieutenant colonel.[citation needed]

Lord Dalrymple sat as Member of Parliament for Wigtownshire from 1906 to 1914, when he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords. Lord Stair was later Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1927 and 1928.[4] From 1931 to 1932 he served as president of the influential conservationist organisation the Cockburn Association.[5]

Family

On 20 October 1904, Dalrymple married Violet Evelyn Harford, only daughter of Col. Frederick Henry Harford and Florence Helen Isabella Parsons, granddaughter of Lawrence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse, and great-granddaughter and heir of Henry Harford, last proprietary governor of Maryland.[6][7] They had six children:[4]

References

  1. ^ Hart's Army list, 1903
  2. ^ "The Army in South Africa – Troops returning home". The Times. No. 36804. London. 26 June 1902. p. 10.
  3. ^ "Lord Stair in Switzerland". The Times. No. 41388. London. 29 January 1917. p. 9.
  4. ^ a b Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 3715. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
  5. ^ "Historic Cockburn Association Office-Bearers".
  6. ^ "Lady Stair's Mother Killed". The Times. 1 July 1931. p. 12.
  7. ^ Mosley 2003, p. 3404
  8. ^ "Obituaries: Lady Jean Rankin". The Daily Telegraph. 5 October 2001.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom Preceded bySir Herbert Maxwell Member of Parliament for Wigtownshire 1906–1914 Succeeded byHew Hamilton Dalrymple Honorary titles Preceded bySir Herbert Maxwell Lord Lieutenant of Wigtown 1935–1961 Succeeded byThe Earl of Stair Masonic offices Preceded byThe Earl of Elgin Grand Master of theGrand Lodge of Scotland 1924–1926 Succeeded byThe Lord Blythswood Peerage of Scotland Preceded byJohn Dalrymple Earl of Stair 1914–1961 Succeeded byJohn Dalrymple
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