Strathallan was the son of James Drummond, 6th Viscount Strathallan, and his wife Lady Amelia Sophia, daughter of John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl.
He gained the courtesy title of Master of Strathallan when his father had the attainder of the viscountcy of Strathallan reversed in 1826 and succeeded in the viscountcy on his father's death in 1851.
In 1853 he was elected a Scottish representative peer, and took his seat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords.
Lord Strathallan married Christina Maria, daughter of Robert Baird, in 1833.
Strathallan survived her by almost twenty years and died in January 1886, aged 75.