Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton

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Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton KT , GCVO , AFC , PC , DL , FRGS (born February 3, 1903 in London , † March 30, 1973 in Edinburgh ) was a British peer , politician and aviation pioneer.

Life

Douglas-Hamilton was the eldest son of Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton , and his wife Nina Poore. As his father's apparent marriage , he carried the courtesy title of Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale from 1904 . He attended Eton College and studied at Christ Church College of Oxford University .

From 1930 to 1940 he was a member of the House of Commons as a member of the Scottish Unionist Party for the constituency of East Renfrewshire . In 1940, when his father died, he inherited his nobility titles as 14th Duke of Hamilton and 11th Duke of Brandon , thereby becoming a member of the House of Lords and leaving the House of Commons.

Douglas-Hamilton was interested in flying from childhood and therefore served as an officer in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force . As the chief pilot of the Houston Everest Expedition, he was the first person to fly over Mount Everest in 1933 . The documentary film Wings Over Everest produced by this expedition was awarded an Oscar for best short film in 1936 . Douglas-Hamilton was the author of The Pilots' Book of Everest in 1936 .

The Duke served as an Air Commodore with the Royal Air Force during World War II , where he was responsible for air defense in southern Scotland. He was Privy Counselor from 1940 and Lord Steward of the Household from 1940 to 1964 .

In 1941 he visited Rudolf Hess in Glasgow , where he had been taken after an unfortunate landing in Scotland. Hess wanted to negotiate a separate peace and erroneously assumed that the Duke, who had visited Berlin in 1936 during the Olympic Games , was a main representative of a group in the United Kingdom that opposed Prime Minister Winston Churchill and was ready to make a peace agreement . In order to camouflage himself, Hess initially presented himself as "Alfred Horn, a friend of the Scottish Duke" and only revealed his true identity and intent to Douglas-Hamilton personally. However, this informed Churchill, whereupon Hess was arrested by the British authorities. A few days later, the duke had to justify himself to the House of Commons and explain whether he had ever had contact with Hess before. He had Sir Archibald Sinclair, State Secretary in the Aviation Ministry, explain that he had not known Rudolf Hess personally before, had no connection with him and could not immediately identify him as the Führer’s deputy .

After the war, Douglas-Hamilton was Chancellor of the University of St Andrews from 1948 to 1973 , a member of the Royal Company of Archers and four times Lord High Commissioner at the General Synod of the Church of Scotland . He was a director of Scottish Aviation and held positions in various other companies.

family

Douglas-Hamilton was married to Lady Elizabeth Ivy Percy (1916-2008), daughter of Alan Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland, with whom he had five sons, since 1937 :

Works

  • with DF MacIntyre: The Pilots' Book of Everest. William Hodge & Co, London / Doubleday, Doran & Co, New York 1936.

literature

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Alfred Douglas-Hamilton Duke of Hamilton
Duke of Brandon
1940-1973 		Angus Douglas-Hamilton
personal data
SURNAME Douglas-Hamilton, Douglas, 14th Duke of Hamilton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hamilton, Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish nobleman and aviation pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH March 30, 1973
Place of death Edinburgh