Picture of Sir Iain Colquhoun, 7th Baronet

Sir Iain Colquhoun, 7th Baronet, 29th Laird of Luss, KT, DSO & Bar, FRSE (20 June 1887 – 12 November 1948), was a Scottish landowner and

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

soldier during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Military career

During the First World War, Colquhoun served in the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642, although it was only placed on the E ...

. In 1914, the opposing troops on the Western Front had unofficially observed a Christmas truce. The following year, however, when the 28-year-old Captain Colquhoun agreed to a German officer's request for a short truce on Christmas Day, lasting about an hour, he was brought before a court-martial. He was defended by

Raymond Asquith Raymond Herbert Asquith (6 November 1878 – 15 September 1916) was an English barrister and eldest son of British prime minister H. H. Asquith. A distinguished Oxford scholar, he was a member of the fashionable group of intellectuals known as ...

, son of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...

(the Prime Minister was Colquhoun's wife's uncle). On 17 January 1916, he was found guilty after a five-hour trial, but received the lightest possible sentence, a reprimand. The sentence was remitted shortly afterwards by General Sir

Douglas Haig Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, (; 19 June 1861 – 29 January 1928) was a senior officer of the British Army. During the First World War, he commanded the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front from late 1915 until ...

, as Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, in view of Colquhoun's former distinguished conduct in the field. By 1918 he was Commanding Officer of 2/4th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment in

59th (2nd North Midland) Division The 59th (2nd North Midland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army during World War I. It was formed in late 1914/early 1915 as a 2nd Line Territorial Force formation raised as a duplicate of the 46th (North Midland) Division. A ...

. When the German spring offensive opened on 21 March 1918, the division's forward defences were quickly overrun. 2/4th Leicesters had only just come out of the line after 24 hours of continuous trench duty, but were sent straight back up to assist in the defence. The battalion could get no further forward than the rear of the Battle Zone where the 'line' was no more than a yet-to-be-dug trench marked out with the turf removed and no barbed wire. The men extended along the line even though they were completely exposed in the open. Under the inspiring leadership of Lieutenant-Colonel Colquhoun and Regimental Sergeant-Major 'African Joe' Withers, the battalion held off the Germans for the rest of the day, with modest casualties. Colquhoun was wounded during the war and awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

(1916) and Bar (1918) and a

Mention in Dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

. After the war he was Honorary Colonel of the 9th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and Glasgow University Officer Training Corps, and President of the Dunbartonshire Territorial Association.

Post-war

He was

Lord Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire. Before the twentieth century, the county was spelled Dumbartonshire. * John Elphinstone, 11th Lord Elphinstone (17 March 1794 – 19 August 1799) * John Elphinsto ...

from 1919 until his death,

Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the Scottish monarch's personal representative to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (the Kirk), reflecting the Church's role as the national church of ...

in 1932, 1940 and 1941 and Lord Rector of

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

from 1934–1937. He was created a

Knight of the Thistle A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

in 1937. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1938 and resigned in 1942.

Family

Colquhoun was the son and heir of Alan John Colquhuon, 6th baronet, and his first wife, Justine Henrietta Kennedy.Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage
pg. 480 He succeeded his father as the 7th baronet in 1910, as Sir Iain Colquhoun of Luss and Chief of the Clan Colquhoun. Sir Iain married Geraldine Bryde (Dinah) Tennant (a granddaughter of

Sir Charles Tennant, 1st Baronet Sir Charles Clow Tennant, 1st Baronet JP DL (4 November 1823 – 4 June 1906) was a Scottish businessman, industrialist and Liberal politician. Early life Tennant was the son of John Tennant (1796–1878) and Robina (née Arrol) Tennant. His ...

) on 10 February 1915, and they had two sons (the elder succeeded his father as 9th baronet) and three daughters. One of their daughters, Fiona, a

Segrave Trophy The Segrave Trophy is awarded to the British national who demonstrates "Outstanding Skill, Courage and Initiative on Land, Water and in the Air". The trophy is named in honour of Sir Henry Segrave, the first person to hold both the land and wat ...

winner, married the 8th Earl of Arran (1910–1983), an Irish peer; the present 9th Earl is their son.

Notes

References

* ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage,'' various editions. * Brig-Gen Sir James E. Edmonds, ''History of the Great War: Military Operations, France and Belgium 1918'', Vol I, ''The German March Offensive and its Preliminaries'', London: Macmillan, 1935/Imperial War Museum and Battery Press, 1995, . * Martin Middlebrook, ''The Kaiser's Battle, 21 March 1918: The First Day of the German Spring Offensive'', London: Allen Lane, 1978/Penguin, 1983, .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colquhoun, Iain 1887 births 1948 deaths Scots Guards officers Royal Leicestershire Regiment officers British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel who were court-martialled Knights of the Thistle Lord-Lieutenants of Dunbartonshire Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain Rectors of the University of Glasgow Lords High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Participants of the Christmas truce of 1915