Sir Iain Colquhoun, 7th Baronet, 29th Laird of Luss, KT, DSO & Bar,

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(20 June 1887 – 12 November 1948), was a Scottish landowner and

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

soldier during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Military career

During the First World War, Colquhoun served in the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot guards#United Kingdom, 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 in the Ki ...

. In 1914, the opposing troops on the Western Front had unofficially observed a

Christmas truce The Christmas truce (; ; ) was a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front of the First World War around Christmas 1914. The truce occurred five months after hostilities had begun. Lulls occurred in the fighting a ...

. 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 A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

. 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 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928) was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. He was the last ...

(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 (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig (; 19 June 1861 – 29 January 1928) was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the British Army. During the First World War he commanded the British Expeditionary F ...

, 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. When the

German spring offensive The German spring offensive, also known as ''Kaiserschlacht'' ("Kaiser's Battle") or the Ludendorff offensive, was a series of German Empire, German attacks along the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during the World War I, First Wor ...

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 Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire or bob wire (in the Southern and Southwestern United States), is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the ...

. 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 awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

(1916) and Bar (1918) and a

Mention in Dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) 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 of t ...

. After the war he was Honorary Colonel of the 9th Battalion

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) is a light infantry company (military unit), company (designated as Balaklava Company, 5th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland) and was a line infantry regiment of the British Army tha ...

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 Elphinstone, ...

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 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 Scotla ...

in 1932, 1940 and 1941 and Lord Rector of

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

from 1934 to 1937. He was created a

Knight 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 ...

in 1937. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

in 1938 and resigned in 1942.

Family

Colquhoun was the son and heir of Sir 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, (4 November 1823 – 4 June 1906) was a Scottish businessman, industrialist and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician. Early life Tennant was the son of John Tennant (1796–1878) and Robina (née Arrol ...

) 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 Fiona is a feminine given name of Gaelic origins. It means white or fair, while the Irish name ''Fíona'' means 'of wine', being the genitive of 'wine'. It was coined by Scottish writer James Macpherson. Initially, the name was confined to ...

, a Segrave Trophy 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 Nobility from Argyll and Bute 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 National Trust for Scotland people