Old Travel Blog Photograph Thomas Corbett In Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Thomas Corbett, 2nd Baron Rowallan, in Scotland. The first son of Archibald Corbett, the liberal politician and property developer and Alice Mary, the daughter of John Polson, a corn merchant, Thomas Corbett was born in Chelsea, London, England, on 19 December 1895 and was brought up in London and on the family’s Scottish estates. Known as " Billy " to the family, he was educated at Gibbs School in Sloane Street, London, Wellington House Preparatory School in Westgate-on-Sea and Eton College. He was 18 when the First World War broke out; he secured a Commission in the Ayrshire Yeomanry and went with them to Gallipoli in October 1915. The Ayrshires were amongst the last troops to be evacuated and went from there to Egypt, forming part of the cavalry reserve in the Second Battle of Gaza. He then transferred to the Grenadier Guards; after re-training he was sent to the Western Front in March 1918, joining the 1st Battalion at Mercatel as a Lieutenant. This coincided with the German Spring Offensive, Operation Michael, and the battalion was soon in action. At Boyelles on 30 March 1918, Corbett attempted to dig out some wounded soldiers who had been buried by artillery, while " under heavy fire and in full view of the enemy " and was awarded the Military Cross but received a leg wound which left him with a permanent disability. He married Gwyn Mervyn Grimond on 14 August 1918. She was the sister of Jo Grimond, Baron Grimond, the leader of the Liberal Party 1956 to 1967 and daughter of Joseph Bowman Grimond of St Andrews, Fife. He had met her while on leave; they had five sons, one of whom was killed in action in 1944, and a daughter. On leaving the army he became a successful breeder of pedigree dairy cattle on the family estate in Ayrshire and campaigned for the eradication of bovine tuberculosis. He succeeded as the 2nd Baron Rowallan on 19 March 1933. Rowallan became district commissioner for north-west Ayrshire Scouts in 1922 and also served as Adjutant of the Ayrshire Yeomanry. In 1939, he raised a new Territorial Army battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers whom he accompanied to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in 1939. Evacuated from Cherbourg during Operation Ariel, he was then given command of a Young Soldiers’ Battalion in the Scottish Highlands; the adventurous training he initiated was based in part on his long association with the Scout Movement. Rowallan served on the World Scout Committee of the World Organization of the Scout Movement from 1947 until 1953. During this time, he was also a governor of the National Bank of Scotland. Rowallan was awarded the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest award of the Boy Scouts of America in 1948. He received the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh in March 1957 and was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Thistle in March of that year. He died at Rowallan Castle near Kilmarnock on 30 November 1977. He was survived by his daughter and four of his five sons.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.