| Honorific-Prefix: | His Grace |
| The Duke of Montrose | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | ID |
| Office: | Minister of Foreign Affairs of Rhodesia |
| Primeminister: | Ian Smith |
| Term Start: | 31 December 1966 |
| Term End: | 11 September 1968 |
| Predecessor: | Ian Smith |
| Successor: | Jack Howman |
| Office2: | Minister of Agriculture |
| Primeminister2: | Winston Field Ian Smith |
| Term Start2: | 17 December 1962 |
| Term End2: | 31 December 1966 |
| Predecessor2: | Herbert Jack Quinton |
| Successor2: | George Rudland |
| Office3: | Minister of Lands and Natural Resources |
| Primeminister3: | Winston Field Ian Smith |
| Term Start3: | 17 December 1962 |
| Term End3: | 14 April 1964 |
| Predecessor3: | Herbert Jack Quinton |
| Successor3: | Philip van Heerden (Mines and Lands) |
| Office5: | Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal |
| Term Start5: | 25 June 1957 |
| Term End5: | 10 February 1992 Hereditary Peerage |
| Predecessor5: | The 6th Duke of Montrose |
| Successor5: | The 8th Duke of Montrose |
| Birth Date: | 2 May 1907 |
| Birth Place: | Stirlingshire, Scotland |
| Death Place: | Stirlingshire, Scotland |
| Birth Name: | James Angus Graham |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | 6, including James Graham, 8th Duke of Montrose |
| Parents: | James Graham, 6th Duke of Montrose Lady Mary Douglas-Hamilton |
| Allegiance: |  United Kingdom |
| Serviceyears: | 1939–1945 |
| Battles: | World War II |
James Angus Graham, 7th Duke of Montrose ID (2 May 1907 – 10 February 1992), styled Earl of Kincardine until 1925 and Marquess of Graham between 1925 and 1954, was a Scottish-born Rhodesian politician, farmer and aristocrat. He served as Minister of Agriculture in the Rhodesian government of Ian Smith, and in 1965 was a signatory to Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
Born in 1907, the son of James Graham, 6th Duke and Lady Mary Louise, only daughter of William Douglas Hamilton, 12th Duke of Hamilton. His cousin was Colonel Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel, a prominent Highland soldier and Chief of Clan Cameron.
As Marquess of Graham, the Duke was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. The Marquess of Graham completed three years at Oxford and graduated Bachelor of Arts. Lord Graham (as he then was) first went to Southern Rhodesia in 1930, where he owned a cattle ranch,[1] and took up a position with A.E. & I., the South African subsidiary of ICI. While he was on holiday in England in 1939, the Second World War with Germany was declared. He signed up with the Admiral Commanding Reserves and was appointed Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve. He joined as part of Lord Louis Mountbatten's flotilla in the North Sea and the evacuations of Crete and Greece following the German invasion of Greece.[2] [3] [4]
On 20 January 1954 he inherited his father's titles and became the 7th Duke of Montrose, taking his seat in the House of Lords on 25 June 1957. He took hunting trips in Kenya, where he met his second wife, Susan Semple. The family lived on Derry Farm at Nyabira outside Salisbury, where the crops included maize and tobacco. A pedigree Brahman cattle stud was established after importing bloodstock from Texas.[4]
Montrose was a hard-line supporter of racial separation in Rhodesia.[5] He was a member of the Dominion Party of Rhodesia. He was a founder of the Rhodesian Front, which he helped fund. Following Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence, Montrose served in the cabinet as Minister of Agriculture,[6] and later as Minister of Defence and of Foreign Affairs.[7] During his term as Minister of Agriculture, the Land Tenure Act of 1969 was enacted, reserving the amount of land for white ownership as 45 million acres (reduced from 49 million acres) and reserved another 45 million acres for black ownership, introducing parity in theory; however, the most fertile farmland continued to be included in the white portion.[8]
Although, in an article published in Illustrated Life Rhodesia in the mid-1970s, Montrose indicated that he saw his family remaining in Rhodesia for future generations, he and his family moved to Natal, South Africa in 1979 and then to Kinross, Scotland, where he spent his final days.[4]
He was a speaker of Gaelic and was fond of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. He was buried in the family cemetery near Loch Lomond.[9]
Graham was first married to Isabel Veronia Sellar and had issue, both born in Southern Rhodesia:
He married secondly Susan Mary Joclyn Semple of Kenya and had issue:
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