McGill Library
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Person
Buccleuch and Queensberry, Walter John Montagu Douglas Scott, Duke of, 1894-1973
1894-1973
Walter John Montagu Douglas Scott, 8th Duke of Buccleuch and 10th Duke of Queensberry, was born on December 30, 1894, in Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland.
He was a British Conservative politician. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, and had a military career commanding the 4th King's Own Scottish Borderers. He was also Captain-General of the Royal Company of Archers. Scott was a Scottish Unionist Party Member of Parliament for Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire from 1923 until 1935. He had attended Hitler's 50th birthday celebration in 1939 and opposed war with Germany. Once war broke out, he campaigned for a truce that would allow Hitler to keep all his conquered territory. In 1940, seen as pro-German, he was compelled to 'resign' as Lord Steward by King George VI. Scott inaugurated a racist campaign against workers in the British Honduran Forestry Unit who had come to Scotland to help in the war effort. He served as Lord Clerk Register in Scotland from 1956 until he died in 1973.
In 1921, he married Vreda Esther Mary Lascelles (1900–1993). He died on October 4, 1973, in Edinburgh, Scotland.