David Charteris, 12th Earl of Wemyss

The Right Honourable The Earl of Wemyss and Earl of March <span style="font-size:"100%";">KT DL
Personal details
Born	Francis David Charteris 19 January 1912 Stanway, Gloucestershire
Died	12 December 2008(2008-12-12) (aged 96) Edinburgh, Scotland
Mother	Lady Violet Manners
Father	Capt. Hugo Charteris, Lord Elcho
Residence	Gosford House
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Religion	Church of Scotland
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1932–1944
Rank	Major
Unit	Lovat Scouts, Royal Pioneer Corps
Battles/wars	World War II

Francis David Charteris, 12th Earl of Wemyss and 8th Earl of March KT DL (19 January 1912 – 12 December 2008), styled Lord Elcho from 1916 to 1937, was a Scottish peer, landowner and conservationist. From 1946 to 1991, he served as chairman of the board and then president of the National Trust for Scotland.^[1]

Early life and education

He was the eldest son of Capt. Hugo Francis Charteris, Lord Elcho, who was killed in action in 1916 in Egypt while serving in the First World War. His mother was Lady Violet Manners, daughter of the 8th Duke of Rutland. He was educated at Eton College and at Balliol College, Oxford (BA 1933), and also studied agriculture at both Oxford and Cambridge as a postgraduate student. At age 25, he succeeded his grandfather in the family titles in 1937.^[2]

Career

Wemyss was commissioned into the Lovat Scouts (Territorial Army) as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1932.^[3] He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1935 and transferred to the TA Reserve of Officers in 1937, and served as a Colonial Administrator in Basutoland from 1937 until 1944. During the Second World War, he did not rejoin the Lovat Scouts but instead served as a major with Basuto troops in the African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps from 1941 to 1944 in North Africa, on account of his fluency in Sotho.^[4]

He was Deputy Lieutenant from 1959 to 1967 and Lord Lieutenant of East Lothian from 1967 until 1987, and a Justice of the Peace since 1957. He was appointed as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1959, 1960 and 1977. He held the honorary appointment of Lord Clerk Register from 1974 until 2007.^[2]

He was a Lieutenant in the Royal Company of Archers. He was Chairman of the Council of the National Trust for Scotland 1947 to 1967, President from 1967 to 1991, and had been President Emeritus since 1991. He was Chairman of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland from 1949 to 1984, President of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society from 1958 to 1962, and President of the National Bible Society of Scotland from 1960 to 1983. He was formerly a director of Standard Life and of Scottish Television.^[2]

Personal life

He married, first, in 1940, Mavis Lynette Gordon Murray (d. 1988), daughter of Edwin Edward Murray, of Hermanus, Cape Province, South Africa. They had two daughters and two sons (one daughter died in infancy). The elder son, Iain David Charteris, Lord Elcho, was born in 1945 but died in 1954 as the result of an accident. Lord Wemyss married, secondly, in 1995, Shelagh Kathleen Kennedy, née Thrift.^[2]

He lived in Gosford House, Longniddry, East Lothian. He died on 12 December 2008 at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Edinburgh, aged 96. His younger son, James Donald Charteris, Lord Neidpath (b. 22 June 1948), succeeded his father.^[1]

Honours

Wemyss was made a Knight of the Thistle in 1966. He held an honorary LLD from St Andrews University, awarded in 1953, and an honorary DUniv from Edinburgh University awarded in 1983.^[4]

References

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Wemyss