Walter Francis John Montagu Douglas Scott, 9th Duke of Buccleuch and 11th Duke of Queensberry, (28 September 1923 – 4 September 2007) was a Scottish

peer Peer may refer to: Sociology * Peer, an equal in age, education or social class; see Peer group * Peer, a member of the peerage; related to the term "peer of the realm" Computing * Peer, one of several functional units in the same layer of a ne ...

, politician and landowner. He served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, 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 . The estate includes

Drumlanrig Castle Drumlanrig Castle is situated on the Queensberry Estate in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The category A listed castle is the Dumfriesshire home of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry. It is open to the public at set times. Con ...

in Dumfries and Galloway,

Bowhill House Bowhill House is a historic house near Bowhill, Scottish Borders, Bowhill at Selkirk, Scottish Borders, Selkirk in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is a member of the Historic Houses Association, and is one of the homes of the Duke of Bu ...

in Selkirkshire, and

Boughton House Boughton House is a country house in the parish of Weekley in Northamptonshire, England, situated about north-east of Kettering. It is situated within an estate of . The present house was built by Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu (d.1709) ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It ...

. A fourth house, Dalkeith Palace, near

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, was most recently let to the West Central Wisconsin Consortium, which used the palace as a base for its study abroad program, until 2021.

Early life

Walter Francis John Montagu Douglas Scott was best known by his middle name John, and he was the only son of Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 8th Duke of Buccleuch and 10th Duke of Queensberry, and the former

Mary Lascelles Mary Madge Lascelles (7 February 1900 – 10 December 1995) was a British literary scholar, specialising in Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson, and Walter Scott. She was vice-principal of Somerville College, Oxford, from 1947 to 1960, and ...

. His sister Lady Elizabeth married the 10th Duke of Northumberland, and Lady Caroline wed politician

Ian Gilmour Ian Hedworth John Little Gilmour, Baron Gilmour of Craigmillar, (8 July 1926 – 21 September 2007) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was styled Sir Ian Gilmour, 3rd Baronet from 1977, having succeeded to his fat ...

. His paternal aunt was

Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, (born Lady Alice Christabel Montagu Douglas Scott; 25 December 1901 – 29 October 2004) was the wife of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the third son of King George V and Queen Mary. She was the moth ...

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

Career

In 1942, he joined the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

as an ordinary seaman, and was commissioned as an officer the following year, serving on

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...

s. He continued as a Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and the

Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original R ...

after the war until 1971. He was awarded the

Volunteer Reserve Decoration The Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, post-nominal letters VD until c. 1947 and VRD thereafter, was instituted in 1908. It could be awarded to part-time commissioned officers in the United Kingdom's Royal Naval Volunt ...

in 1959. He was appointed Honorary Captain in the Royal Naval Reserve in 1988. He was a Captain of the

Royal Company of Archers The Royal Company of Archers, The King's Bodyguard for Scotland is a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's bodyguard in Scotland—a role it has performed since 1822 during the reign of King George IV when the company provided a per ...

, Lord President of the Council and Silver Stick for Scotland. He was a member of the

Roxburghe Club The Roxburghe Club is a bibliophilic and publishing society based in the United Kingdom. Origins The spur to the Club's foundation was the sale of the enormous library of the Duke of Roxburghe (who had died in 1804), which took place over 46 da ...

Parliamentary career

After the war, he studied at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...

, where he joined the

Bullingdon Club The Bullingdon Club is a private all-male dining club for Oxford University students. It is known for its wealthy members, grand banquets, and bad behaviour, including vandalism of restaurants and students' rooms. The club is known to select it ...

. He briefly worked as a merchant banker in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, and then as a director of an insurance company. As Earl of Dalkeith, he was a Roxburghshire

County Council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

lor 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, from 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. He and his wife sustained minor injuries in a car accident at Clumber Park,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

, on 16 August 1961, but made a full recovery. However, in a hunting accident near

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one ...

on 20 March 1971, his horse threw him off as it failed to take a

drystone Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction me ...

dyke, and then fell on him. Dalkeith was left paralysed from the chest down with a fractured spine. He left hospital in early September 1971, and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair, and became a notable 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 of the chamber to shake his hand, in October 1971. Dalkeith left the House of Commons in October 1973, as he succeeded to the Dukedom upon his father's death. As a result, he stood down as an MP. However, he remained a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

for the next 25 years, where he spoke particularly on rural, disability and constitutional issues, until the removal of the hereditary peers in the reforms of 1999.

Personal life

The royal family reportedly wanted Princess Margaret to marry Dalkeith, but she was not interested. On 10 January 1953 he married

Jane McNeill Jane McNeill-Balter, professionally credited as Jane McNeill, is an American stage, film and television actress, best known to television audiences for her recurring role as Patricia on the second season of '' The Walking Dead''. Life and car ...

at a ceremony at

St Giles Cathedral St Giles' Cathedral ( gd, Cathair-eaglais Naomh Giles), or the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town of Edinburgh. The current building was begun in the 14th century and extended ...

attended by the

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, the Duke of Edinburgh, and most of the royal family. Jane, a leading fashion model for Norman Hartnell, was the only child of John McNeill, QC, and the former Amy Yvonne Maynard. Together, they were the parents of four children: *

Richard Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch Richard Walter John Montagu Douglas Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch and 12th Duke of Queensberry, (born 14 February 1954), styled as Lord Eskdaill until 1973 and as Earl of Dalkeith from 1973 until 2007, is a Scottish landholder and peer. He is ...

(born 14 February 1954), who married Lady Elizabeth Marion Frances Kerr, daughter of 12th Marquess of Lothian in 1981. * Lady Charlotte-Anne Montagu Douglas Scott (born 9 January 1956), who married Comte Bernard de Castellane in 1991. * Lord John Montagu Douglas Scott (born 9 August 1957), who married Berrin Torolsan in 1990. * Lord Damian Torquil Francis Charles Montagu Douglas Scott (born 8 October 1970), who married Elisabeth Powis in 2001. The Duke was in the headlines in October 2003 when the '' Madonna with the Yarnwinder'' by

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on ...

was stolen from

. It was found in October 2007, one month after the Duke's death. The Duke died after a short illness at one of his three homes,

, in Selkirkshire, Scottish Borders, in the early hours of 4 September 2007. He was survived by his wife, daughter, and three sons (ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren). The Duke was buried on 11 September 2007 among the ruins of Melrose Abbey, next to his parents. His cousin the Duke of Gloucester was among the 2,500 guests who attended the burial ceremony.

Descendants

Through his daughter, Lady Charlotte-Anne, he was a grandfather of Comte Boniface Louis Albert Charles de Castellane (born 1993), Rose Jane Michèle Elisabeth de Castellane (born 19 June 1996), and Pierre John Boniface de Castellane (born 11 April 2003). Through his youngest son, Lord Damian, he was a grandfather of Alexander Edward James Montagu Douglas Scott (born 13 February 2002), Georgia Lucy Alice Montagu Douglas Scott (born 11 August 2006), and Orlando John Sebastian Montagu Douglas Scott (born 27 March 2009).

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 and 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) *Honorary President of the South of Scotland Car Club Ltd (1951–2007)

Honours

Knight of the Order of the Thistle The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The current version of the Order was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland, who asserted that he was reviving an earlier Order. The ...

(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) * Chief of Clan Scott (1973–2007)

Honorary military appointments

*Captain,

(1988–2007)

References

External links

*
News report
'' The Scotsman'', 5 September 2007
Obituary
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', 5 September 2007
Obituary
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'', 5 September 2007
Obituary
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', 6 September 2007
Obituary
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 6 September 2007
Obituary
Buccleuch Group
Buccleuch Estates websitePhotograph of Duke in 1992BBC article on theft of da Vinci paintingProfile
burkes-peerage.net; accessed 20 April 2016. , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Buccleuch, John Scott, 9th Duke of 1923 births 2007 deaths Scott, John Scott, John Scott, John 111

209 Year 209 ( CCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Lollianus (or, less frequently, year 962 ''Ab urbe condi ...

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Scottish justices of the peace Knights of the Thistle Councillors in Scotland Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Scott, John Scott, John Scott, John Scott, John Buccleuch, D9 Lord-Lieutenants of Roxburghshire Lord-Lieutenants of Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale Lord-Lieutenants of Selkirkshire John Royal Navy officers of World War II Scottish landowners Members of the Royal Company of Archers Burials at Melrose Abbey 20th-century Scottish businesspeople Bullingdon Club members Royal Naval Reserve personnel People educated at Eton College Hereditary peers removed under the House of Lords Act 1999