Lieutenant Colonel Adrian Grant Duff, C.B. (29 September 1869 – 14 September 1914), was a British officer and administrator. He was responsible for creating the "War Book", the British Army's plan to deploy to the European continent, and commanded the 1st Battalion the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) during the opening months of World War I.

Life

Born in London on 29 September 1869, he was the third son of

Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff (21 February 1829 – 12 January 1906), known as M. E. Grant Duff before 1887 and as Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff thereafter, was a Scottish politician, administrator and author. He served as the Under-Sec ...

and his wife Anna Julia Webster. He was educated at

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin *Wellington College, Wellington, New Z ...

and the

Royal Military College Royal Military College may refer to: ;Australia * Royal Military College, Duntroon, Campbell, Australian Capital Territory ;Canada * Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario * Royal Military College Saint-Jean, Saint-Jean, Quebec ;Mala ...

(Sandhurst), commissioning into the 2nd Battalion the Black Watch in 1889. Grant Duff served in peacetime roles around the British Empire. He rejected a plan to transfer to the British South Africa Police, based on advice from

Robert Henry Meade Sir Robert Henry Meade (16 December 1835 – 8 January 1898) was a British civil servant and the Head of the Colonial Office between 1892 and 1897. Life Meade was the second son of the 3rd Earl of Clanwilliam and Lady Elizabeth Herbert. ...

. He saw action during the Tirah Campaign and the

Second Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

, before being seconded to the War Office in 1905 as staff captain. He became Assistant Secretary to the

Committee of Imperial Defence The Committee of Imperial Defence was an important ''ad hoc'' part of the Government of the United Kingdom and the British Empire from just after the Second Boer War until the start of the Second World War. It was responsible for research, and som ...

there in 1910. At the War Office Grant Duff wrote ''Coordination of Departmental Action on the Occurrence of Strained Relations and on the Outbreak of War'', commonly known as the "War Book", which highlighted flaws in the British Government's preparations for a European War, and formed the basis for the British Expeditionary Force's plan to deploy to France and Belgium in 1914. He was much more impressed with the naval officer George Alexander Ballard than his superior

Ernest Troubridge Admiral Sir Ernest Charles Thomas Troubridge, (15 July 1862 – 28 January 1926) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the First World War. Troubridge was born into a family with substantial military connections, with several of his ...

of the War Staff. Grant Duff was conservative, and held a low opinion of politicians in general, and the government handling of the Curragh incident in particular, as political interference in a military matter. In 1913 Grant Duff returned to the 1st Battalion the Black Watch and commanded the battalion in France and Belgium throughout the Retreat from Mons and the Battle of the Marne, before being killed in action at the Battle of the Aisne on 14 September 1914. He was buried in Moulins.

Family

Grant Duff married in 1906 Ursula Lubbock (born 1885), daughter of John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury. They had a son and three daughters.

References

External links

The papers of Adrian Grant Duff
held at Churchill Archives Centre {{DEFAULTSORT:Grant Duff, Adrian 1869 births 1914 deaths Black Watch officers British military personnel of the Tirah campaign British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army personnel of World War I British military personnel killed in World War I