David Drummond, 8th Earl of Perth


John David Drummond, 17th Earl of Perth PC, styled Viscount Strathallan from 1937 to 1951, was a Scottish peer, banker and politician. Because of the history of the earldom of Perth, he is sometimes considered the 8th Earl of Perth.

Background and education

Drummond was the son of Eric Drummond, 7th Earl of Perth, and the Hon. Angela Mary Constable-Maxwell.
He was educated at Downside School and Trinity College, Cambridge. As his parents travelled for his father's work, David Drummond spent much of his childhood with his maternal aunt, the Duchess of Norfolk.

Career

After beginning a banking career, he went to Paris during the Second World War to help Noël Coward in a propaganda office, then returned to London to work in the War Cabinet office and later at the Ministry of Production. After the war he joined Schroders in 1945 and was a partner until 1956.
He was a Representative Peer for Scotland from 1952 to 1963, and in 1957, despite not being a member of the Conservative party, he was appointed Minister of State for Colonial Affairs in Harold Macmillan's government, a post he held until 1962. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1957. Lord Perth was also First Crown Estate Commissioner from 1962 to 1977, Chairman of the Ditchley Foundation from 1963 to 1966 and Chairman of the Reviewing Committee on Export of Works of Art from 1972 to 1976.
He was a champion of Scottish arts and heritage, serving as a trustee of the National Museums of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland, and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Family

Lord Perth married Nancy Fincke, an American, in New York City in 1934. They lived at Stobhall, near Stanley in Tayside. They had two sons. Lord Perth died in November 2002, aged 95, and was succeeded by his elder son, John Eric Drummond, 9th Earl of Perth.