View source for George Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk

{{Short description|British nobleman and Conservative politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[Group Captain]] [[The Right Honourable]]
| name                = The Earl of Selkirk
| honorific-suffix    = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KT|GCMG|GBE|AFC|AE|PC|QC}}
| image               = 10thEarl of Selkirk.jpg
| office              = [[First Lord of the Admiralty]]
| term_start          = 14 January 1957
| term_end            = 14 October 1959
| predecessor         = [[Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone|The Viscount Hailsham]]
| successor           = [[Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington|The Lord Carrington]]
| office1             = [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]]
| primeminister1      = [[Anthony Eden]]<br/>[[Harold Macmillan]]
| term_start1         = 20 December 1955
| term_end1           = 13 January 1957
| predecessor1        = [[Frederick Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton|The Earl of Woolton]]
| successor1          = [[Charles Hill, Baron Hill of Luton|Charles Hill]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=y|1906|01|04}}
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=y|1994|11|24|1906|01|04}}
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Audrey Sale-Barker]]|1947}}
<!-- military service -->| allegiance          = United Kingdom
| branch              = [[Royal Air Force]]
| serviceyears        =
| rank                = [[Group Captain]]
| unit                =
| commands            = [[No. 603 Squadron RAF|No. 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron]] (1934–38)
| battles             = [[Second World War]]
| mawards             = [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]]<br/>[[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|Air Force Cross]]<br/>[[Mentioned in Despatches]] (2)
| birth_place         = [[Merley]], [[Wimborne]]
| death_place         = [[Ashington, Dorset]]
}}
[[Group Captain]] '''George Nigel "Geordie" Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KT|GCMG|GBE|AFC|AE|PC|QC}} (4 January 1906 – 24 November 1994) was a [[British people|British]] nobleman and [[Unionist Party (Scotland)|Conservative]] politician.
==Early life==
Born at [[Merley|Merly]], [[Wimborne]], [[Dorset]], he was the second son of [[Nina Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton|Nina Mary Benita]], youngest daughter of Major R. Poore, Salisbury, and the [[Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton|13th Duke of Hamilton and Brandon]]. He was educated at [[Eton College]], [[Balliol College, Oxford]], the [[University of Edinburgh]] (LLB) and at the [[University of Bonn]], [[Vienna University]] and the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]]. He was admitted to the [[Faculty of Advocates]] in 1935, taking [[Queen's Counsel|silk]] in 1959.<ref>{{Citation|title=Selkirk, 10th Earl of, (George Nigel Douglas-Hamilton) (4 Jan. 1906–24 Nov. 1994)|date=2007-12-01|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-175365|work=Who Was Who|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u175365|isbn=978-0-19-954089-1}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-55705|title=Hamilton, George Nigel Douglas-, tenth earl of Selkirk (1906–1994), politician and diplomatist|last=Douglas|first=Selkirk of|date=2004-09-23|volume=1|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/55705}}</ref>
He played [[cricket]] for [[Wiltshire County Cricket Club|Wiltshire]] in the 1927 [[Minor Counties Championship]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/179/179709/179709.html|title=Player profile: Lord George Douglas-Hamilton|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=26 August 2011}}</ref>
He was a member of [[Edinburgh]] Town Council from 1935 to 1940 and served as a [[Commissioner]] of [[General Board of Control (Scotland)]] from 1936 to 1939 and as a Commissioner for [[Special Areas in Scotland]] 1937–39. He commanded [[No. 603 Squadron RAF|No. 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron]] in the [[Royal Auxiliary Air Force]] 1934–38. He was awarded the [[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|Air Force Cross]] in 1938.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=15500|page=506|date=14 June 1938|city=e}}</ref>
==Second World War==
With the outbreak of the [[Second World War]] Douglas-Hamilton joined the [[Royal Air Force]]. He served as [[RAF Fighter Command|Fighter Command's]] chief intelligence officer and the personal assistant to Air Chief Marshal [[Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding|Sir Hugh Dowding]]. Douglas-Hamilton was also involved in countering the German task force operating near Ceylon.<ref name=":0" />
Douglas-Hamilton was twice [[Mentioned in Despatches]] and appointed an [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] in 1941.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35107|page=1571|date=14 March 1941|supp=y}}</ref>
He succeeded as the 12th [[Earl of Selkirk]] on the death of his father in 1940, under the terms of a [[special remainder]], his elder brother becoming the [[Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton|14th Duke of Hamilton]].
==Post-war activity==
From 1946 to 1950, Selkirk served as the president of the [[Cockburn Association]], an influential conservationist and civic amenity body.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cockburnassociation.org.uk/history/office-bearers/|title = Historic Cockburn Association Office-Bearers}}</ref>
On 6 August 1947, he married [[Audrey Sale-Barker]], an [[alpine skiing]] champion and prominent aviator.<ref name=":0" />
In 1945 he was elected as a Scottish [[List of Scottish representative peers|representative peer]], giving him a seat in the [[House of Lords]] which he held until 1963. He served as a [[lord in waiting]] to King [[George VI]] (1951–1952) and to Queen [[Elizabeth II]] (1952–1953). He held ministerial office in Conservative governments, serving as [[paymaster general]] from November 1953 to December 1955, as [[chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]] from December 1955 to January 1957, and as [[first lord of the Admiralty]] from January 1957 to October 1959.
In 1955 Selkirk was appointed a [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|privy counsellor]], in 1959 as a [[knight grand cross of the Order of St Michael and St George]], also in 1959 as a [[Queen's Counsel]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=17765|page=633|date=3 November 1959|city=e}}</ref> and in 1963 as a [[knight grand cross of the Order of the British Empire]]. In 1976 he became a [[knight of the Order of the Thistle]], the highest Scottish honour.
He also held the office of deputy keeper of [[Holyroodhouse]] from 1937 until his death, the [[duke of Hamilton]] being hereditary keeper. He was made a freeman of [[Hamilton, Scotland|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]].
==Singapore==
From 1959 to 1963, Selkirk was [[List of High Commissioners from the United Kingdom to Singapore|High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Singapore]] and Commissioner General for South-East Asia. He was also the British Representative to [[Southeast Asia Treaty Organization]] from 1960 to 1963. While in Singapore, Selkirk was also the British representative and Chairman of the Internal Security Council, a tripartite committee responsible for Singapore's internal security from 1959 to 1963.<ref name=":0" />
==Later life==
In 1957, Lord Selkirk moved in Rose Lawn Coppice, [[Ashington, Dorset|Ashington]], Dorset. He had inherited the house, which had been built in 1925 by [[Cricket|cricketer]] and [[British Army]] officer [[Robert Poore|Brigadier General Robert Poore]] (1866–1938) under the will of his widow Lady Poore (1867–1957), and lived there until his own death in 1994.
==See also==
*[[Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton]]
*[[Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton]]
*[[Lord David Douglas-Hamilton]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*{{Hansard-contribs | mr-george-douglas-hamilton | the Earl of Selkirk }}
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{{succession box | title=[[Lord-in-waiting]] | before=New government | after=[[Bladen Hawke, 9th Baron Hawke|The Lord Hawke]] | years=1951–1953}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell|The Lord Cherwell]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Paymaster General]]|years=1953–1955}}
{{s-vac|next=[[Walter Monckton, 1st Viscount Monckton of Brenchley|Walter Monckton]]}}
{{succession box|title=[[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]]|before=[[Frederick Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton|The Viscount Woolton]]|after=[[Charles Hill, Baron Hill of Luton|Charles Hill]]|years=1955–1957}}
{{succession box|title=[[First Lord of the Admiralty]]|before=[[Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone|Quintin Hogg]]|after=[[Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington|The Lord Carrington]]|years=1957–1959}}
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{{succession box|title=[[Earl of Selkirk]]|before=[[Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton|Alfred Douglas-Hamilton]]|after=[[James Douglas-Hamilton]]|years=1940–1994}}
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[[Category:1906 births]]
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[[Category:Nobility from South Lanarkshire]]
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[[Category:Members of the Faculty of Advocates]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ministers in the Eden government, 1955–1957]]
[[Category:Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964]]
[[Category:Ministers in the third Churchill government, 1951–1955]]
[[Category:People from Wimborne Minster]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)]]
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[[Category:University of Bonn alumni]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
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[[Category:Wiltshire cricketers]]
[[Category:Younger sons of dukes|Douglas-Hamilton, George]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]