Robert Hutchison, 1st Baron Hutchison of Montrose

{{Infobox military person

|name= The Lord Hutchison of Montrose

|image= 1st Baron Hutchison of Montrose 1923.jpg

|image_size=

|alt=

|caption= Sir Robert Hutchison in 1923

|birth_date= {{birth date|1873|9|5|df=y}}

|death_date= {{Death date and age|1950|6|13|1873|9|5|df=y}}

|birth_place=

|death_place=

|placeofburial=

|nickname=

|allegiance= {{flag|United Kingdom}}

|branch= {{army|United Kingdom}}

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|rank= Major-General

|unit=

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|battles= Second Boer War
First World War

|awards= Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches (6)
Legion of Honour (France)
Order of the Crown (Belgium)
Croix de guerre (Belgium)
Army Distinguished Service Medal (United States)

|relations=

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}}

Major-General Robert Hutchison, 1st Baron Hutchison of Montrose, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KCMG|CB|DSO|PC}} (5 September 1873 – 13 June 1950), was a Scottish soldier and Liberal politician.

Background

Hutchison was the son of Alexander Hutchison, of Braehead, Kirkcaldy, Fife. His younger brother Sir Balfour Hutchison (1889–1967) was a lieutenant general in the British Army.{{CN|date=December 2024}}

Military career

Hutchison was a lieutenant in the Fifeshire Artillery Militia when he received a regular commission as a second lieutenant in the 7th Dragoon Guards on 10 February 1900.{{London Gazette| issue=27163 |supp=1|page=909| date=9 February 1900|}} He was promoted to lieutenant on 3 October 1900. The following year he was seconded to the Imperial Yeomanry, serving in the Second Boer War in South Africa, where he was appointed lieutenant and adjutant of the 12th Battalion on 25 November 1901,{{London Gazette| issue=27417 |pages=1882–1883 | date=18 March 1902}} with the temporary rank of captain from the same day.{{London Gazette| issue=27426 |page=2602 |date=18 April 1902}} He relinquished his appointment as adjutant and his temporary appointment as captain on 12 May 1902,{{London Gazette |issue=27442 |page=3899 |date=13 June 1902}} shortly before the end of the war, and left Cape Town the following month, returning home on SS Plassy.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Army in South Africa – Troops returning home|date=10 June 1902 |page=14 |issue=36790| }} In late August he was back with his regiment.{{London Gazette |issue=27467 |date=22 August 1902|page=5463|supp=}} He was promoted to the substantive rank of captain with the 11th Hussars in 1905{{London Gazette|issue=27859|page=8645|date=1 December 1905}} and major with the 4th Dragoon Guards in 1913.{{London Gazette|issue=28783|page=9338|date=19 December 1913}} He was a General Staff Officer, 3rd Grade, 1912–1914,{{London Gazette|issue=28573|page=448|date=19 January 1912}} and promoted to 2nd Grade in 1914.{{London Gazette|issue=28901|page=7203|supp=y|date=14 September 1914}}{{London Gazette|issue=29006|page=10667|supp=y|date=14 December 1914}} He served in the First World War as General Staff Officer, 1st Grade, 1915–1917; temporary major general and Director of Organisation at the War Office from May 1917 to 1919; DAG 1919. He was Mentioned in Despatches six times, and awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1915, appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1918, and knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1919. He was also awarded the Belgian Order of the Crown and Croix de guerre, the French Legion of Honour, and the American Army Distinguished Service Medal. He retired in 1923.

Political career

Hutchison was National Liberal Member of Parliament for Kirkcaldy Burghs from 1922 to 1923, Liberal member for Montrose Burghs from 1924 to 1931 and Liberal National member for that constituency from 1931 to 1932. He served as Scottish National Liberal Whip in 1923, as a Liberal Whip from 1924 to 1926 and as Chief Liberal Whip from 1926 to 1930. On his retirement from the House of Commons in 1932, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Hutchison of Montrose, of Kirkcaldy in the County of Fife.{{London Gazette |issue=33843 |date=5 July 1932 |page=4374 }} He later served under Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain as Paymaster General from 1935 to 1938 and was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1937.{{London Gazette |issue=34366 |date=2 February 1937 |page=707 }}

Apart from his military and political careers he was a director of the National Bank of Australasia, Phœnix Assurance Co., and other business interests.

Personal life

Lord Hutchison of Montrose married firstly Agnes, daughter of William Drysdale, in 1905. After her death he married secondly Alma, daughter of W. G. Cowes, in 1942. He died in June 1950, aged 76, when the barony became extinct.{{CN|date=December 2024}}