[2] Born in Glasgow in 1901,[3] Bannerman was the son of John Roderick Bannerman, a Post Office employee originally from the Hebridean island of South Uist but living in Glasgow at the time of his son's birth; he is remembered for writing the popular Scottish folk song "Mairi's Wedding".

[3] Bannerman was an accomplished sportsman winning a "rugby blue" at Oxford[3] He played for Glasgow District in the 1922 inter-city match.

He played in Scotland's first "grand slam" winning team in 1925, securing this achievement by beating England in the opening match of the new Murrayfield Stadium.

In 1952 Bannerman left the Montrose estate to become a farmer in his own interests and also that year became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to the Festival of Britain.

When the seat fell vacant in 1940 it was mooted that Bannerman might run as a Liberal National but the negotiations with the Conservatives broke down robbing him of his best chance of entering the House of Commons.

But in 1954 he was the candidate in an extraordinary by-election at Inverness which some historians have seen as a true turning point in Liberal fortunes in Scotland and perhaps the United Kingdom.

[16] From a position where there had been no Liberal candidate in the 1951 election, Bannerman jumped into second place over Labour, coming just 1331 votes behind the Tory winner.

He made other attempts to enter the Commons, including giving Labour a close run at the Paisley by-election of 1961, registering 41.3% of the vote in a seat where there had been no Liberal candidate at the 1959 general election.