He served in the Second World War as a Major in the Grenadier Guards and was wounded.
In 1955 he was elected a Scottish representative peer and took his seat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords.
He was the last surviving person to have sat as a Scottish Representative Peer.
He served under Harold Macmillan as Minister of State for Scotland from 1958 to 1959.
Rosemary Katharine, daughter of Gustavus William Hamilton-Russell, 9th Viscount Boyne, in 1942.