The life and military career of one of Perthshire’s most glorious sons was celebrated on Tuesday.
Provost John Hulbert met former Black Watch Major Colin Innes at Perth Museum and Art Gallery beneath the portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence of General Sir Thomas Graham of Balgowan, Lord Lynedoch.
Local military historian Major Innes has just visited Spain to attend the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Barossa, won by the then Major-General Thomas Graham on March 5, 1811. He led a single British-Portuguese division against a superior French force during a bid to lift the siege of Cadiz, inflicting heavy casualties and securing victory, although the siege itself was not lifted.
Graham became a national hero overnight when news got back to England and from 1813-14 he was appointed second in command to the Duke of Wellington in Spain. Made a peer in 1814 for his services, Lord Lynedoch retired. Perth made him a Freeman in 1815 and subscribed for the portrait by Lawrence to be painted.
Sir Thomas was born in 1748 on Balgowan Estate between Methven and Gilmerton and brought up there. He inherited three more estates and in 1785 bought the Lynedoch Estate, running from Campsie near Glenalmond to Bertha Park and what is now the Inveralmond Roundabout.
He was greatly involved in agricultural development and even when in the army wrote to his estate factor urging more tree planting, road and bridge building and drainage schemes on his estates.
In 1774 he married Mary Cathcart, second daughter of Charles, 9th Baron Cathcart, who lived near Alloa. She had tuberculosis all her life and was unable to have children. She was frequently taken to warmer climates by her husband for her health but died in 1793 on board a ship off the coast of Provence.
Lord Lynedoch therefore had no direct heir when he died at 96 in 1843. Both Sir Thomas and his wife are buried in an ornate mausoleum in Methven churchyard, built by the Dundee architect Thomas Playfair.