James Graham, 6th Duke of Montrose

Who was James Graham, 6th Duke of Montrose?

James Graham, 6th Duke of Montrose KT CB CVO VD, was a Scottish nobleman, politician and engineer.

The eldest son of Douglas Graham, 5th Duke of Montrose, he was educated at Eton College. In 1906 he married Lady Mary Douglas-Hamilton, the only child of the 12th Duke of Hamilton. They had four children, James Graham, 7th Duke of Montrose, Lady Mary Graham, Lord Ronald Graham and Lady Jean Graham.

He served in the Mercantile Marine and ASC in South Africa, 1900, as well as the Auxiliary Naval Service during World War I 1914–1919. He was later Commodore of the Clyde Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and of East Coast of Scotland RNVR, then Commodore of the RNVR from 1921, retiring in 1927. He was unpaid Assistant Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1905, and Naval Aide-de-Camp to His Majesty.

He was unsuccessful as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Stirlingshire in 1906, at the 1906 by-election at Eye, Suffolk, and at the general election in 1910. He joined the Liberal Party in 1936.

He was President of the British Institution of Marine Engineers in 1911, and President of the Junior Institution of Engineers in 1916 and 1917.