Sir John Gilmour, 2nd Baronet

Gilmour was the son of Sir John Gilmour, 1st Baronet, chairman of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party, who was created a baronet in 1897. His mother was Henrietta, daughter of David Gilmour. He was educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond, the University of Edinburgh and Trinity Hall, Cambridge.[1]

Gilmour was a lieutenant in the Fifeshire Volunteer Light Horse, and was among the officers of the Fife and Forfar volunteer battalions to volunteer for service in the Second Boer War. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the Imperial Yeomanry on 7 February 1900,[2] and served in South Africa with the 20th (Fife and Forfarshire Light Horse) Company of the 6th Battalion. He left Liverpool for South Africa with the company on the SS Cymric in March 1900.[3] For his service, he was awarded the Queen's medal with 4 clasps and was twice mentioned in despatches (by Lord Roberts dated 4 September 1901[4] and in the final despatch by Lord Kitchener dated 23 June 1902[5]). His letters from the Boer War were published in 1996 under the title "Clearly My Duty" by his son, Sir John Gilmour, 3rd Baronet. He again served in World War I with the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, where he was again mentioned in despatches and awarded the DSO with bar. His service after the war saw him rise to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel when he commanded the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry. On 8 May 1931 he was made the Honorary Colonel of the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry.[6]

He unsuccessfully contested East Fife in 1906 and was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for East Renfrewshire from 1910 to 1918 and for Glasgow Pollok from 1918 until 1940. He was a Junior Lord of the Treasury in 1921–1922, Scottish Unionist Whip from 1919 to 1922 and in 1924.

He was appointed as Secretary for Scotland in 1924, and became the first Secretary of State for Scotland when the post was upgraded in 1926. A member of the Orange Order joining the Pollokshaws Lodge, LOL172, in June 1910. This Lodge is now named after him. Gilmour, as Secretary for Scotland, repudiated the Church of Scotland's report, "The Menace of the Irish Race to our Scottish Nationality".

Later in his career he served as Minister of Shipping during the early months of the Second World War but died in office in 1940.[7]

Gilmour was Master of the Fife Fox Hounds, 1902–1906 and a Member of Fife County Council 1901–1910. He was Rector of the University of Edinburgh, 1926–1929 and was awarded honorary degrees by the University of Glasgow in 1925, the University of Edinburgh in 1927 and the University of St Andrews in 1929. He was a Brigadier with the Royal Company of Archers. He was made Vice-Lieutenant for the County of Fife on 27 March 1936.[8] Appointed GCVO 1935.

Gilmour first married Mary Louise Lambert, daughter of Edward Tiley Lambert, on 9 April 1902 at St. Mary's Church, Battle, Sussex.[9] After her death in 1919 he married secondly his first wife's sister, Violet Agnes, in 1920. In 1930, he married Lady Mary Cecilia Rhodesia Hamilton (1896–1984), daughter of James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn, and his wife, the former Lady Rosalind Bingham. Gilmour and his third wife had one son together.

Gilmour died of a heart attack in London on 30 March 1940,[10] aged 63, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son from his first marriage, John, who also had a successful political career. His daughter from his first marriage, Dame Anne Margaret Bryans worked for the British Red Cross, becoming Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee from 1964 to 1976. His great-nephew, George Younger, was also a Conservative MP and served as Scottish Secretary from 1979 to 1986.

• Torrance, David, The Scottish Secretaries (Birlinn 2006)
• Leigh Rayment's list of baronets – Baronetcies beginning with "G" (part 1)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

• Obituary of Dame Anne Bryans
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir John Gilmour