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 The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment ...

(Royal Highlanders) during the opening months of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

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 unde ...

and his wife Anna Julia Webster. He was educated at Wellington College 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 ;Indi ...

(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 The British South Africa Police (BSAP) was, for most of its existence, the police force of Southern Rhodesia and Rhodesia (renamed Zimbabwe in 1980). It was formed as a paramilitary force of mounted infantrymen in 1889 by Cecil Rhodes' Britis ...

, 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 (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

, before being seconded to the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

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 so ...

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 Admiral George Alexander Ballard (7 March 1862 – 16 September 1948) was an officer of the Royal Navy and a historian. Biography Ballard was the eldest son of General John Archibald Ballard (1829–1880), and his wife Joanna, the daughter of ...

than his superior

Ernest Troubridge Admiral (Royal Navy), 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 connecti ...

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 The Curragh incident of 20 March 1914, sometimes known as the Curragh mutiny, occurred in the Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland. The Curragh Camp was then the main base for the British Army in Ireland, which at the time still formed part of the ...

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 The Great Retreat (), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army. The Franco-British forces on the Western F ...

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 John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury (30 April 1834 – 28 May 1913), known as Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet, from 1865 until 1900, was an English banker, Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician, philanthropist, scientist and polymath. Lubbock worked ...

. They had a son and three daughters.

References

External links

The papers of Adrian Grant Duff
held at

Churchill Archives Centre The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers ...

{{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