THE DUKE OF MOXTROSE, who had been associated with the Life-boat Service for nearly fifty years and had been Treasurer of the Institution and Chairman of the Scottish Life-boat Council, died on the 20th of January, 1954.

He was first elected to the Com- mittee of Management as Marquess of Graham, but resigned in 1910 after three years of service. In 1924 he was appointed a vice-president of the Institution and once again became a member of the Committee of Manage- ment. In 1927 he became the first Chairman of the Scottish Life-boat Council, and for the rest of his life took an extremely active part in the Council's work. In 1946 he broadcast an appeal on behalf of the Institution and the next year he became the Institution's Treasurer, in which post he continued until he had to resign owing to ill health in 1952.

In a personal tribute to the late Duke of Montrose, Lord Saltoun, who succeeded him as Chairman of the Scottish Life-boat Council, writes: During the whole of my life it has seemed to me that there was always some one Scotsman who from his wide and varied acquaintance, as well as by character and experience, fairly represented the spirit of the country as a whole. During the last twenty years or so I imagine that the late Duke of Montrose would have been put forward as the man to fill this position by more Scotsmen and from more varied walks of life than any other individual.

Of his many different activities which brought him into sympathy with us all, his work for the Life-boat Institution was in some ways the most significant, because not only did it give him contact with people of every position in every corner of the country, but the contact was renewed again and again, so that a real mutual under- standing and sympathy resulted.

I recall, for instance, one occasion when he attended a life-boat ball and delighted everyone by his wholehearted enjoyment of the entertainment, and by the lateness of the hour at which he retired. He insisted on returning the next year, and I remember receiv- ing from him an account of things and people as accurate as if he had spent his whole life in the place. This was simply one incident, and one place, but when we realise that, like his ancestor, he engaged the hearts of people all over Scotland, the claim made above will not seem extravagant.

His service to the Institution and to Scotland in the formation of the Scottish Life-boat Council in 1927 has often been stated, but it ought to be realised that it was his own constant presence and guidance which made the innovation a success and raised Scotland to the position of highest contributor per head of the population and kept her there.

His sympathy with those with whom he disagreed on matters of principle and his understanding of them did not impair his tenacity of purpose, and often led to his gaining his point more easily than seemed probable. He was not readily swayed by facile logic, which, after all, is only as strong as its premises; and his saying "It is not always a good thing to be too clever" reminds us of the first Duke of Wellington's remark about education: "Education—give them education but remember; if you give education with- out religion you only make so many clever devils." All over Scotland, in castle and cottage, he will long be mourned by men and women who know that their affection for him was returned and that they have lost a gentle friend.

For us in the Life-boat Service we may take a lesson from his tenacity and his ingenuity in overcoming the handicap of his deafness. His life may teach us to do without the leader we have lost. Each of us must do some- thing to supply a little of his place so that the Service may suffer no detri- ment..