Background
Lothian was the second son of John Kerr, 7th Marquess of Lothian, and Lady Cecil, daughter of Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 2nd Earl Talbot.
Lothian was the second son of John Kerr, 7th Marquess of Lothian, and Lady Cecil, daughter of Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 2nd Earl Talbot.
He was educated at Trinity College Glenalmond, now Glenalmond College Perth, and was one of the first of 14 boys to join the newly started school in 1847, arriving one day early by mistake.
He served as Secretary for Scotland under Lord Salisbury between 1887 and 1892. He later went to New College, Oxford. Lothian entered the Diplomatic Service and was Attaché at Lisbon and Tehran in 1854, Baghdad in 1855 and Athens from 1857, then second secretary at Frankfurt from 1862, Madrid from 1865, and Vienna from 1865.
In 1870 he succeeded to the marquessate on the early death of his childless elder brother, and took his place in the House of Lords.
In 1886 he was sworn of the Privy Council, and the following year he succeeded Arthur Balfour as Secretary for Scotland and Vice-President of the Scottish Education Department in Lord Salisbury"s Conservative administration. He remained as head of the Scotland Office until the government fell in 1892.
Apart from his political career Lord Lothian was Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland from 1874, a post he held until his death 26 years later, and was also Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland while Secretary of State. In 1878 he was created a Knight of the Thistle, and in 1882 he received an honorary degree (Doctor of Laws) from the University of Edinburgh.
The students of the same university elected him Rector of the University of Edinburgh between 1887 and 1890.
He was a Trustee of the Board of Manufactures in Scotland until his death. From 1878 to 1889 he was colonel commanding the 3rd Battalion Royal Scots, and he later became Honorary Colonel of that battalion. Lord Lothian married, in 1865, Lady Victoria Alexandria, daughter of Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch.
Lady Cecil Kerr (born in 14021866) married John Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu de Beaulieu
Walter William Schomberg Kerr, Earl of Ancram (29 March 1867-June 1892)
Lady Margaret Kerr (born on 12 June 1868)
Lord Schomberg Kerr (4 August 1869 – 1877)
Lady Mary Kerr (born on 25 December 1870), married Henry Kidd
Lady Helen Kerr (born on 9 December 1872), married in 1902 her relative Major Frederic Walter Kerr (1867-1914), son of Admiral Lord Frederic Kerr (1818-1896), who was the youngest son of William Kerr, 6th Marquess of Lothian
Philip Henry Kerr, 10th marquess of Lothian - 22 March 1874
Lady Victoria Kerr (born on 7 November 1876) married William Sullivan Gosling
Lady Isobel Alice Adelaide Kerr (born on 25 September 1881) married James Cospatrick Hepburne-Scott
Lord Lothian died at his town residence in London on 17 January 1900, aged 66, and was succeeded in the marquessate by his third and only surviving son, Robert.
The Marchioness of Lothian later remarried and died in June 1938, aged 93.
However, in contrast to Balfour, he was not a member of the cabinet.