Background
He was born on 29 December 1873, the only son of Charles Douglas-Home, 12th Earl of Home and Maria Grey, the daughter of Captain Charles Conrad Grey, Registered Nurse (and great-niece of Charles, 2nd Earl Grey).
banker governor Lord Lieutenant
He was born on 29 December 1873, the only son of Charles Douglas-Home, 12th Earl of Home and Maria Grey, the daughter of Captain Charles Conrad Grey, Registered Nurse (and great-niece of Charles, 2nd Earl Grey).
Styled Lord Dunglass, he was educated at Eton College and at Christ Church, Oxford.
He served as Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire from 1930 to 1951. He was the father of British Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home. He subsequently served as an officer in the 3rd and 4th Battalions, the Cameronians and as Colonel in the Lanarkshire Yeomanry and was awarded the Territorial Decoration.
He fought in the First World War, where he took part in the Gallipoli Campaign and was mentioned in dispatches.
He succeeded to his father"s earldom and subsidiary titles on 30 April 1918. He was the Governor of the British Linen Bank from 1930 to 1947.
He held the office of Justice of the Peace for Glasgow and Berwickshire, and was a Captain of the Royal Company of Archers. He was invested as a Knight of the Order of the Thistle in 1930.
He held the office of Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire from 1930 until his death.
He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Law by the University of Glasgow. He died at his home The Hirsel on 11 July 1951. In 1918, Lord Home inherited extensive property and estates from his father, including Douglas Castle, Bothwell Castle, The Hirsel and lands (which totalled some 107,000 acres in 1878) chiefly in Lanarkshire, Roxburghshire and Berwickshire.
The following year, he was forced to sell many historic pictures and art treasures from the family collection to settle death duties.