Family and Education

b. 26 Sept. 1715, 7th s. of James Graham, 1st Duke of Montrose [S], by Lady Christian Carnegie, da. of David, 3rd Earl of Northesk [S]. unm.

Offices Held

Midshipman R.N. 1730, lt. 1734, capt. 1740; gov. Newfoundland 1740-1.

Biography

Graham, a naval officer, was returned for Stirlingshire as an opposition Whig by his father in 1741. One of the group of Scotch Members known as the Duke of Argyll’s gang,1 he voted against the Administration on the Hanoverians in 1742 and 1744. In the spring of 1745 he opposed the court-martial of Admiral Mathews, making a vigorous defence of the admiral in the House.2 In June, he distinguished himself in a naval action off Ostend, for which he was commended to the Duke of Bedford, the first lord.3 In the autumn, he was with Admiral Vernon, cruising in the Downs against the threatened French invasion.4 He was absent from the division on the Hanoverians in April 1746, when he was classed as a ‘new ally’. He was then cruising off the north of Scotland, watching for French ships coming to rescue the Jacobites.5 In October, his brother, the 2nd Duke of Montrose, came to fetch him at Bristol, where he had fallen ill.6 He died at Bath, 2 Jan. 1747.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. John Drummond to Ld. Morton, 2 and 4 Dec. 1742, Morton mss, SRO.
• 2. Yorke's parl. jnl. Parl Hist. xiii. 1252, 1268.
• 3. Sandwich to Bedford, 27 June 1745, Bedford mss.
• 4. Vernon Pprs. (Navy Recs. Soc. xcix,) 471, 475.
• 5. Bedford Corresp. i. 103.
• 6. HMC Astley, 335.