Alan Breck Regiment Sadly Loses Founding Member David Lumsden of Cushnie

David Lumsden of Hamilton House dies 'on duty' at Glenfinnan

The news of the sad and sudden death of David Lumsden of Cushnie, longtime Baron of Cushnie-Lumsden, sees the loss of one of the most loyal of defenders of the Jacobite heritage and of Scottish Catholic tradition. He has in recent years stayed at Hamilton House in Prestonpans and been a commited supporter of the 1745 Battle Trust. Just this year on on July 22nd he attended the Regimental Dinner of the newly established Alan Breck Prestonpans Regiment of Volunteers at The Prestoungrange Gothenburg.


David Lumsden fittingly died shortly after presiding over the annual meeting of the 1745 Association at Glenfinnan, where the Royal Standard of Prince Charles Edward was first raised in 1745.

David Gordon Allen d’Aldecamb Lumsden of Cushnie, sometime Baron of Cushnie-Lumsden, was born on 25 May in 1933 in Quetta, Baluchistan in, as he often put it, the "Empire of India". He was the son of Henry Gordon Strange Lumsden, a Major in the Royal Scots, of Nocton Hall, Lincolnshire and Sydney Mary, only child of Brigadier-General Charles Allen Elliot.

He was educated at Allhallows, Devon, Bedford School, and at Jesus College, Cambridge. He held a commission in the London Scottish TA before developing an executive career with British American Tobacco for 23 years from 1959, and was a member of Lloyd's from 1985 until his retirement in 2001. He worked in Africa, India and the Far East, as well as eastern Europe. Upon leaving BAT he moved into castle restoration.

He was a Knight of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta (the oldest military-religious order of the Roman Catholic Church), a Knight of Justice of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order (the other international Roman Catholic military order), a Knight of the Order of Saint Maurice and St Lazarus and Bailie of the Bailiwick of Scotland of the Order of St Lazarus, as well as being a Freeman of the City of London.

His motto, Dei Donum Sum Quod Sum (by the grace of God, I am what I am) reflected his strong Christian and Catholic commitment.



David was, moreover, a keen heraldist and served as Garioch Pursuivant-of-Arms to the Chief of the Name and Arms of Mar, Margaret Alison of Mar, 31st Countess of Mar and Lady Garioch (and Titular 11th Duchess of Mar in the Jacobite Peerage in which Peerage she is numbered as 32nd Countess of Mar, as the attainder of 1716-1824 is not recognised by Jacobites). The Earldom of Mar is the oldest peerage title in the United Kingdom. Garioch is one of the four surviving private officers of arms in Scotland recognised by the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms.

David co-founded the Castles of Scotland Preservation Trust and the Scottish Historic Organs Trust and was President of the Scottish Military History Society. In addition he was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He was on the council of the Admiral the Viscount Keppel Association and was one of the patrons of the Russian Summer Ball in London. He was Convenor of the Monarchist League of Scotland and was on the council of the Royal Stuart Society.

In the realm of sport, he was a keen shot, played polo in his youth and had rowed at Cambridge, in addition to his interest in sailing and riding.

An ardent restorer of fine buildings but a dislike for white socks

David personally restored two family properties – Cushnie House (built in 1688 by Alexander Lumsden) and Tillycairn Castle (built in 1540 by Mathew Lumsden), thereafter restroing both Leithen Lodge at Innerleithen, an arts-and-crafts shooting lodge of 1887, and Liberton Tower, in Edinburgh.

He was a co-founder with Harry Borthwick (23rd Lord Borthwick), Nigel Tranter and Hugh Ross of the Castles of Scotland Preservation Trust.

His bete noire (or perhaps "bete blanche") was the hideous, modern penchant for wearing white socks with the kilt. "Any colour but white" was David's constant refrain and he would present offenders with a card bearing that same advice.

A loyal and profound monarchist and Jacobite, David was a contributor to the The Muster Rolls of the 45 (listing all those who served with Prince Charles Edward during the '45 Jacobite campaign to restore the rightful Stuart dynasty to its lawful place upon the British throne), and served as a council member of the Royal Stuart Society.

In 2007, he played a prominent role in commemorating the bicentenary of the death of HRH Prince Henry Benedict Stuart, the Cardinal Duke of York, last member of the Royal House of Stuart, at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, along with Viscount Maitland (hereditary bearer of the National Flag of Scotland) and General Lord Walker (governor of the Royal Hospital). He also participated in the Requiem arranged by the Sovereign Military Order of St John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta at their Church of St John in the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in St John's Wood.



His ancestor, Robert Lumsden, 1st Laird of Cushnie, was granted a charter of the lands by King James IV in 1509. David was kinsman to Sir Winston Churchill who was himself descended from Robert of Cushnie.

Robin Angus said of David that he “personified a world of precious things — things which are imperilled, but which never seemed imperilled when he was there. David no longer visibly with us is unimaginable... He was the soul of old Scotland".