James Ogilvie-Grant, 11th Earl of Seafield

Captain James Ogilvie-Grant, 11th Earl of Seafield, (18 April 1876 – 12 November 1915), styled Viscount Reidhaven in 1888, was a Scottish peer and soldier. He is numbered as the 30th Chief of Clan Grant.

Early life

Seafield was born on 18 April 1876 in Oamaru, North Otago, New Zealand. He was the eldest son of Francis Ogilvie-Grant, 10th Earl of Seafield and Anne Trevor Corry Evans, daughter of Major George Evans, 47th Regiment, a scion of the Barons Carbery. He had six siblings, including his brother, Trevor Ogilvie-Grant.

He started his education at Warwick House preparatory school in Christchurch. He then attended Christ's College and Lincoln College. He succeeded to the earldom of Seafield and as 30th Chief of Clan Grant on his father's death in 1888. He lived in Auckland for a time before his marriage in 1898.

Career

Seafield served as a Justice of the Peace for Banffshire, Morayshire, and Inverness-shire. He was a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Elgin.

Seafield served as a lieutenant in the Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry, New Zealand Forces. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, the Bedfordshire Regiment, on 21 June 1902. He fought in World War I as a captain in the 3rd Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, and was then attached to the 5th Battalion. The Cameron Highlanders' regimental commander was Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel who described Seafield as "brave as a lion". In November 1915, he was supposed to be on leave from action, but his leave got cancelled and he died on 12 November 1915, aged 39, from wounds received in action.

Personal life

On 22 June 1898 at Christchurch, Seafield married Mary Elizabeth Nina Townend, daughter of Dr. Joseph Henry Townend (1847–1902), and heiress of Annie Quayle Townend. They had one daughter:

• Lady Nina Caroline Ogilvie-Grant (1906–1969), who married Derek Herbert Studley-Herbert in 1930.

Lord Seafield died on 12 November 1915, aged 39, from wounds received at Flanders in Belgium. He is buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery. Seafield was succeeded in the barony of Strathspey, the baronetcy of Colquhoun and as Chief of Clan Grant by his younger brother Hon. Trevor Ogilvie-Grant. The earldom and the other subsidiary Scottish peerage titles could be passed on to female heirs and, along with the vast estates, were inherited by his daughter. He was the grandfather of Ian Ogilvie-Grant, 13th Earl of Seafield.

References

1. Francis Ogilvie-Grant, 10th Earl of Seafield
2. Earl of Seafield
3. Ian Ogilvie-Grant, 13th Earl of Seafield
4. Nina Ogilvie-Grant, 12th Countess of Seafield
5. Mark Ogilvie-Grant
6. Ogilvie-Grant
7. Ogilvie (name)
8. Trevor Ogilvie-Grant, 4th Baron Strathspey
9. James Ogilvy (disambiguation)
10. Colquhoun baronets
11. List of British parliamentarians who died in the First World War
12. Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery
13. Grantown-on-Spey
14. Clan Ogilvy
15. Annie Quayle Townend
16. List of earls in the peerages of Britain and Ireland
17. John Grant (pipe-major)
18. Urquhart Castle
19. Ogilvy (name)
20. Banffshire