Angus Graham, 7th Duke of Montrose


James Angus Graham, 7th Duke of Montrose ID, 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

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.
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 first went to Southern Rhodesia in 1930, where he owned a cattle ranch, 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 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.
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. 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.
Montrose, a former member of the pro-Nazi Right Club, was a hardline supporter of racial separation in Rhodesia. He was a member of the Dominion Party of Rhodesia. He was a founder of the Rhodesian Front, which he helped fund. Following Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence, Montrose served in the cabinet as Minister of Agriculture, and later as Minister of Defence and of Foreign Affairs.
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.
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.

Family

Graham was first married to Isabel Veronia Sellar and had issue, both born in Southern Rhodesia:
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
  • * Marina Lilias Saggers
  • * Georgina Frances Saggers
  • Lord Donald Alasdair Graham ; married, in 1981, Bridie Donalda Elspeth Cameron of the Black Isle and has issue:
  • * Caitriana Mary Alice Cameron
  • * Alasdair John Cameron
  • * Violet Elizabeth Helen Cameron
  • * Jennie Alexandra Cameron
  • * Finlay Donald Cameron
  • Lord Calum Ian Graham; married in 1991 Catherine Beatrice Fraser-Mackenzie. Lord Calum Graham married secondly Estelle Baynes née Parry de Winton on 3 August 2013. He had three children with his first wife:
  • * Iain Angus Graham
  • * Euan Douglas Graham
  • * Christabel Emily Graham
  • Lady Lilias Catriona Maighearad Graham, married Jonathan Dillon Bell of Wellington, New Zealand, and has issue:
  • * Charles Michael Dillon Bell
  • * Eleanor Caroline Bell