Captain George "Geordie" Nigel Douglas-Hamilton: the 10th Earl of Selkirk

1. CAPTAIN GEORGE "GEORDIE" NIGEL
DOUGLAS-HAMILTON: THE 10TH EARL OF
SELKIRK….

2. WHO IS THIS MAN ?

3. Born at Merly, Wimborne, Dorset,
he was the second son of the 13th
Duke of Hamilton and Brandon
and Nina Mary Benita, youngest
daughter of Major R. Poore,
Salisbury. He was educated at
Eton College, Balliol College,
Oxford, Edinburgh University (LLB)
and at the University of Bonn,
Vienna University and the
Sorbonne. He was admitted to the
Faculty of Advocates in 1935,
taking silk in 1959.

4. He played cricket for Wiltshire in the 1927
Minor Counties Championship.
He was a member of Edinburgh Town
Council from 1935–40 and served as a
Commissioner of General Board of Control
(Scotland) from 1936–39 and as a
Commissioner for Special Areas in
Scotland from 1937-39. He commanded
603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron in the
Royal Auxiliary Air Force from 1934-38.

5. W o r ld
W a r II

6. With the outbreak of World War II, Douglas-Hamilton
joined the Royal Air Force. He served as Fighter
Command’s chief intelligence officer and the personal
assistant to Air Chief Marshal Dowding. Douglas-
Hamilton was also involved in countering the German
task force operating near Ceylon.
Douglas-Hamilton was twice Mentioned in Despatches
and awarded the Air Force Cross in 1938 and the OBE in
1941.
He succeeded to Earldom upon the death of his father
in 1940, under terms of special remainder, his elder
brother becoming the 14th Duke of Hamilton.

7. P o s t w a r a c t iv it y

8. On 6 August 1947, Douglas-Hamilton married Audrey Sale-
Barker, an alpine skiing champion and prominent aviator.
He was elected as a Scottish representative peer from 1945–63,
during which time he served as a Lord in Waiting to King George
VI (1951–52) and to Queen Elizabeth II (1952–53). He held
Ministerial office as Paymaster-General from November 1953-
December 1955, as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from
December 1955-January 1957 and as First Lord of the Admiralty
from 1957-October 1959.

9. He was UK High Commissioner for Singapore and
Commissioner General for South-East Asia from 1959–63, and
UK Council Representative to Southeast Asia Treaty
Organization from 1960-63. He was appointed a Privy
Counsellor in 1955, and awarded the GCMG in 1959 and the
GBE in 1963. He was appointed a Knight of the Thistle in 1976.
He held the office of Deputy Keeper of Holyroodhouse between
1937 until his death, the Duke of Hamilton being hereditary
Keeper. He was made a Freeman of Hamilton, Scotland, in
1938. He was also an Honorary Chief of the Saulteaux Indians,
1967, and an Honorary Citizen of the City of Winnipeg and of
the town of Selkirk, Manitoba.

10. END OF
STORY….