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LORD Hugh Douglas-Hamilton, brother of Scotland's premier
peer, the Duke of Hamilton and of Scottish Office Minister Lord James
Douglas-Hamilton, died early yesterday [21
June 1995] from a suspected heart attack.
His wife, Sheilagh, was present when he collapsed
after getting up around 3am to go to the bathroom.
An ambulance
crew and a local doctor were called to their home at Begbie Farmhouse,
Haddington, East Lothian, but efforts to revive him failed.
The death of Lord Hugh, 48, is the latest in a series
of misfortunes which have dogged the descendants of the 14th Duke of
Hamilton and Brandon (family motto: Never Behind).
Three of the
14th duke's five sons,
Hugh, Patrick, and Angus, who succeeded to the title as 15th duke in
1973, have had much publicised drink-driving convictions in recent
years, when courts have also been told of a series of family break-ups.
The youngest is David. James is the best known, as the Minister.
Last year, he renounced his claim to the title of Earl of Selkirk to
remain as MP for Edinburgh West but he is currently involved on behalf
of his son in a tussle with his cousin, Alasdair Douglas-Hamilton, over
the inheritance.
Lord Hugh had
suffered from a depressive illness for many years and, in February 1993,
was fined £400 and banned for 18 months for driving with more than twice
the legal limit of alcohol. He had been on his way to Herdmanflatt
Hospital for urgent treatment.
His personal life was at times
headline grabbing. In 1971, he shocked his Presbyterian family by
converting to Roman Catholicism in order to marry his first wife, June,
a barmaid.
That marriage over, in 1990 he announced his intention
to marry an Anglican divorcee, Ms Heather Smith, then 37. At the last
minute, the wedding was called off because of ''technical religious
difficulties''. Ms Smith said Lord Hugh had been unable to get a
dispensation from the Roman Catholic Church; Lord Hugh later said he had
been jilted.
Two years later, he announced plans to wed an
Edinburgh journalist, Ms Penny Haywood, then 45, after meeting her at a
party. Again, that marriage was called off.
Finally, in May last
year, he married in secret Sheilagh Ellis, a Presbyterian, in the crypt
of Westminster Cathedral in front of four guests. Lady Sheilagh, a
textile sales representative, was back at work two days later.
Lord Hugh demonstrated a willing capacity to help others. For some time,
he cut an unlikely figure as the only Etonian aristocrat among the
volunteers serving up at an Edinburgh soup kitchen for homeless people.
In 1993, he took over as honorary secretary for the Jericho House
appeal for day-care facilities for the homeless. It is now within a
whisker of reaching its #100,000 target.
Last night,
the project administrator, Mr Alan McHattie, said: ''He did a lot of
good work for us and only a few days ago was sending out letters on
behalf of the appeal.''
In another incident, Lord Hugh caught a
thief and made a citizen's arrest while a psychiatric patient in the
Royal Edinburgh Hospital. The thief, Alexander McKillop, had been
befriended by Lord Hugh in hospital after he had asked the aristocrat
for a couple of fivers.
In the early 1980s, Lord Hugh took great
interest in Tory Island off
the Donegal coast and by organising
exhibitions of the Tory Island School of Painters in Edinburgh and
elsewhere in Scotland was instrumental in saving the island from
evacuation.
Lord Hugh came from one of Scotland's illustrious families. The Douglas-Hamiltons
have held their title since 1643 and maintain links with the royal
family. Lord Hugh's brother, Lord Patrick, holds the title of Hereditary
Keeper of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen's residence in
Scotland.
The family were immortalised in history books after one
of the more bizarre incidents of the Second World War, when Hitler's
deputy, Rudolf Hess, parachuted into a field close to the estate of the
Douglas-Hamiltons estate in East Lothian.
Hess was on a mission
to meet Lord James's father, himself a distinguished pilot, in the
mistaken belief that, with his help, a peace settlement between the
Allies and Germany could be negotiated. Thirty years after the
event, Lord James described the ill-fated flight in a book, Motive for a
Mission: The Story Behind Hess's Flight to Britain.
Paying
tribute to his younger brother, Lord James said yesterday:
''Hugh had a great appreciation and love of all things
to do with Scotland. He was a larger-than-life figure and will be
greatly missed by his family and friends.''
Lord Hugh is survived
by his son Brendan and daughter Kitty from his first marriage to June
Curtis in 1971.
Lord Hugh Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton
Born 22 August 1946 North Berwick
Died 21 June 1995
Married (1) 1971 Annulled 1991 June Mary Curtis
Married (2) 1994 Sheilagh Ellis
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