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Angus Graham, 7th Duke of Montrose

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His Grace
The Duke of Montrose
ID
The Duke of Montrose ca. 1967
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Rhodesia
In office
31 December 1966 – 11 September 1968
Prime MinisterIan Smith
Preceded byIan Smith
Succeeded byJack Howman
Minister of Agriculture
In office
17 December 1962 – 31 December 1966
Prime MinisterWinston Field
Ian Smith
Preceded byHerbert Jack Quinton
Succeeded byGeorge Rudland
Minister of Lands and Natural Resources
In office
17 December 1962 – 14 April 1964
Prime MinisterWinston Field
Ian Smith
Preceded byHerbert Jack Quinton
Succeeded byPhilip van Heerden (Mines and Lands)
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
25 June 1957 – 10 February 1992
Hereditary Peerage
Preceded byThe 6th Duke of Montrose
Succeeded byThe 8th Duke of Montrose
Personal details
Born
James Angus Graham

(1907-05-02)2 May 1907
Stirlingshire, Scotland
Died10 February 1992(1992-02-10) (aged 84)
Stirlingshire, Scotland
Spouses
Isabel Veronia Sellar
​
​
(m. 1930; div. 1950)​
Susan Semple
​
(m. 1952)​
Children6, including James Graham, 8th Duke of Montrose
Parent(s)James Graham, 6th Duke of Montrose
Lady Mary Douglas-Hamilton
Military service
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch/service Royal Navy
Years of service1939–1945
Battles/warsWorld War II

James Angus Graham, 7th Duke of Montrose ID (2 May 1907 – 10 February 1992), styled Earl of Kincardine until 1925 and Marquess of Graham between 1925 and 1954, was a Scottish-born Rhodesian politician, farmer and aristocrat. He served as Minister of Agriculture in the Rhodesian government of Ian Smith, and in 1965 was a signatory to Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence.

Biography

[edit]
Angus, Marquess of Graham, aged twenty-one (later The 7th Duke of Montrose)

Born in 1907, the son of James Graham, 6th Duke and Lady Mary Louise, only daughter of William Douglas Hamilton, 12th Duke of Hamilton. His cousin was Colonel Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel, a prominent Highland soldier and Chief of Clan Cameron.[1]

As Marquess of Graham, the Duke was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. The Marquess of Graham completed three years at Oxford and graduated Bachelor of Arts. Lord Graham (as he then was) first went to Southern Rhodesia in 1930, where he owned a cattle ranch,[2] and took up a position with A.E. & I., the South African subsidiary of ICI. While he was on holiday in England in 1939, the Second World War with Germany was declared. He signed up with the Admiral Commanding Reserves and was appointed Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve. He joined HMS Kandahar as part of Lord Louis Mountbatten's flotilla in the North Sea and the evacuations of Crete and Greece following the German invasion of Greece.[3][4][5]

On 20 January 1954 he inherited his father's titles and became the 7th Duke of Montrose, taking his seat in the House of Lords on 25 June 1957.[6] He took hunting trips in Kenya, where he met his second wife, Susan Semple. The family lived on Derry Farm at Nyabira outside Salisbury, where the crops included maize and tobacco. A pedigree Brahman cattle stud was established after importing bloodstock from Texas.[5]

Montrose was a hard-line supporter of racial separation in Rhodesia.[7] He was a member of the Dominion Party of Rhodesia. He was a founder of the Rhodesian Front, which he helped fund.[2] Following Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence, Montrose served in the cabinet as Minister of Agriculture,[8] and later as Minister of Defence and of Foreign Affairs.[9] During his term as Minister of Agriculture, the Land Tenure Act of 1969 was enacted, reserving the amount of land for white ownership as 45 million acres (reduced from 49 million acres) and reserved another 45 million acres for black ownership, introducing parity in theory; however, the most fertile farmland continued to be included in the white portion.[10]

Although, in an article published in Illustrated Life Rhodesia in the mid-1970s, Montrose indicated that he saw his family remaining in Rhodesia for future generations, he and his family moved to Natal, South Africa in 1979 and then to Kinross, Scotland, where he spent his final days.[5]

He was a speaker of Gaelic and was fond of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. He was buried in the family cemetery near Loch Lomond.[1]

Family

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7th Duke and Duchess of Montrose in Scotland, 1981

Graham was first married to Isabel Veronia Sellar and had issue, both born in Southern Rhodesia:

  • Lady Fiona Mary Graham (1932–2017);[11] married, in 1966, Peter Alexander O'Brien Hannon and has issue:
    • Catherine Mary Hannon (born 1968)
    • Veronica Maeve Hannon (born 1971)
  • James Graham, 8th Duke of Montrose (born 1935 in Southern Rhodesia); married, in 1970, Catherine Elizabeth MacDonell Young and has issue:
    • Lady Hermione Elizabeth Graham (born 1971)
    • James Alexander Norman Graham, Marquess of Graham (born 1973)
    • Lord Ronald John Christopher Graham (born 1975)

He married secondly Susan Mary Joclyn Semple of Kenya and had issue:

  • Lady Cairistiona Anne Graham, born 1955; went to Girls High School Salisbury, Rhodesia, married, in 1982, Philip Patrick Saggers of Australia and has issue:
    • Susanna Mary Saggers (born 1984)
    • Marina Lilias Saggers (born 1986)
    • Georgina Frances Saggers (born 1989)
  • Lord Donald Alasdair Graham (born 1956); married, in 1981, Bridie Donalda Elspeth Cameron of the Black Isle and has issue:
    • Caitriana Mary Alice Cameron (born 1984)
    • Alasdair John Cameron (1986–1988)
    • Violet Elizabeth Helen Cameron (born 1992)
    • Jennie Alexandra Cameron (born 1993)
    • Finlay Donald Cameron (born 1998)
  • Lord Calum Ian Graham; married in 1991 Catherine Beatrice Fraser-Mackenzie (died 2008). Lord Calum Graham married secondly Estelle Baynes née Parry de Winton on 3 August 2013.[12] He had three children with his first wife:
    • Iain Angus Graham (born 1995)
    • Euan Douglas Graham (born 1996)
    • Christabel Emily Graham (born 2001)
  • Lady Lilias Catriona Maighearad Graham, married Jonathan Dillon Bell of Wellington, New Zealand, and has issue:
    • Charles Michael Dillon Bell (born 1993)
    • Eleanor Caroline Bell (born 1994)

Ancestry

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References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to James Graham, 7th Duke of Montrose.
  1. ^ a b Graham, Angus And Master of None: The Life & Times of Angus Graham, 7th Duke of Montrose (Stuart Titles, 1996)
  2. ^ a b White, Luise (2015). Unpopular Sovereignty : Rhodesian Independence and African Decolonization. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-23505-9. OCLC 883646994.
  3. ^ "Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves etc". The Navy List: 167. February 1940. Retrieved 22 June 2024 – via National Library of Scotland.
  4. ^ Smith, Adrian (2010). Mountbatten: Apprentice War Lord. London: Bloomsbury. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-85771-492-3.
  5. ^ a b c "Duke of Montrose". The Times. No. 64254. 13 February 1992. p. 15.
  6. ^ "Prayers (1957)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Lords. 25 June 1957.
  7. ^ Kenrick, David William (2019). Decolonisation, Identity and Nation in Rhodesia, 1964-1979 : A Race Against Time. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-030-32698-2. OCLC 1126543315.
  8. ^ "Zimbabwe: The 10-Point Plan Will Deliver". Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe). 3 September 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  9. ^ "Susan, Dowager Duchess of Montrose". The Herald (Scotland). 28 March 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  10. ^ Nelson, Harold. Zimbabwe: A Country Study. pp. 137–153.
  11. ^ "Lady Fiona Mary Hannon [1932–2017]". 5 June 2017.
  12. ^ "Lord Calum Graham and Mrs E. Baynes". The Daily Telegraph. London. 10 August 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
[edit]
Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly
New title Member of Parliament for Gwebi
1962–1970 		Assembly dissolved
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Agriculture
1962 – 1964 		Succeeded by
Himself
as Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Minister of Lands and Natural Resources
1962 – 1964 		Succeeded byas Minister of Mines and Lands
Succeeded by
Himself
as Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Preceded by
Himself
 Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources
1964 		Succeeded by
Himself
as Minister of Agriculture
Preceded by
Himself
 Minister of Agriculture
1964 – 1966 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Foreign Affairs
1966 – 1968 		Succeeded by
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by Duke of Montrose
1954–1992 		Succeeded by
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