John Burns, 4th Baron Inverclyde
Encyclopedia
John Alan Burns, 4th Baron Inverclyde, K.St.J
(12 December 1897 – 17 June 1957), the son of James Cleland Burns, 3rd Baron Inverclyde
of Castle Wemyss
and Charlotte Mary Emily Nugent-Dunbar, was educated at Eton College
, Eton
, Berkshire
and The Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Berkshire. Joining The Scots Guards
, he was wounded by a German bullet while going 'over the top' in France
. He reached the rank of Lieutenant in the First World War and served as a Captain with The Scots Guards in the Second World War.
As a subaltern in the Scots Guards he fought in France until wounded by a bullet through the palm of one hand. Gangrene
impeded swift healing, but at last he was ready to return to the front and confided in a friend that if he had to die for it, he would try to win a decoration for gallantry in action to make his father proud of him. But instead of being sent overseas he was shunted into a "cushy' job at the War Office
.
Burns succeeded to the title of 4th Baron Inverclyde on 16 August 1919 and was invested as a Knight, Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem
(K.St.J.) and was admitted to The Royal Company of Archers
.
He married, firstly, Olivia Sylvia Sainsbury, daughter of Arthur Sainsbury, millionaire owner of a large chain of grocery shops, on 23 November 1926. They divorced in Scotland in 1928. Secondly he married June Howard-Tripp
, daughter of Walter Howard-Tripp, on 21 March 1929. As simply 'June', she had been a well established star of revue
and silent films, but gave up her showbusiness career on marriage, although this too was to end in divorce, in 1933.
Alan Burns published a memoir of two cruises: in his steam yacht
the "Sapphire" to India
and Malaya
in 1924/5 and in the "Beryl" around the Mediterranean in 1929. Entitled Porpoises and People, it was published in 1930. Although in part dedicated to his wife ('Topsy' in the book), in her own memoirs, June states that Burns never told her or anyone else he was writing it.
Inverclyde was on board the RMS Lancastria
when she was sunk off St. Nazaire on 17 June 1940. He was rescued by the crew of HMT Cambridgeshire, a 443-ton anti-submarine trawler, which had been requisitioned by the navy in August 1939, she was then given a 4 inch gun, machine guns and depth chargers, she herself surviving the war and, after returning to peacetime trawling in 1945 as the Kingstone Sapphire, was scrapped in 1954.
After returning to England, Lord Inverclyde presented each of his rescuers with a round rosewood box full of cigarettes, each box with an engraved silver plaque, each individually named and then given the wording "...HMS Cambridgeshire St. Nazaire to Plymouth 17th to 19th June 1940 from a grateful passenger Inverclyde/Scots Guards".
Not having inherited any business acumen from his immediate forebears he eschewed the idea of taking an active role in the running of The Cunard Steamship Company
and preferred instead the pleasant job of aide-de-camp
to the Governor of Gibraltar
. Inverclyde became a Lieutenant in the Reserve of Officers, and in 1922 was Assistant Private Secretary, in an unpaid capacity, to the Secretary of State for Scotland
.
After leaving his regiment he retired into private life as master of Wemyss and man-about-town with a bachelor flat in Mayfair
. He acquired hunters, a yacht, a grouse
moor.
During the winter he rode with the Eglinton in Ayrshire
; in the early summer months he cruised the Mediterranean; in the late summer and early autumn he shot grouse. His civic duties were not obligatory and, according to his second wife, June, he never took more than cursory interest in local matters. He did, however, endow two public buildings which remain in use: the Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre
at Largs
and the Inverclyde Centre in Greenock
as a British Sailors Society home, now used by the local authority's homeless persons unit.
Lord Inverclyde died on 17 June 1957, at the age of 59, without issue, the title becoming extinct on his death. The name Inverclyde was however resurrected in the early 1970s for the new local authority district
centred on Greenock, a creation of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
. The local newspaper, the Greenock Telegraph
, said that the name "would in a way be a tribute to a man whose interest in the area was always constant" [sic]. Inverclyde remains as a Scottish council area.
John Alan Burns, 4th Baron Inverclyde, K.St.J
(12 December 1897 – 17 June 1957), the son of James Cleland Burns, 3rd Baron Inverclyde
of Castle Wemyss
and Charlotte Mary Emily Nugent-Dunbar, was educated at Eton College
, Eton
, Berkshire
and The Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Berkshire. Joining The Scots Guards
, he was wounded by a German bullet while going 'over the top' in France
. He reached the rank of Lieutenant in the First World War and served as a Captain with The Scots Guards in the Second World War.
As a subaltern in the Scots Guards he fought in France until wounded by a bullet through the palm of one hand. Gangrene
impeded swift healing, but at last he was ready to return to the front and confided in a friend that if he had to die for it, he would try to win a decoration for gallantry in action to make his father proud of him. But instead of being sent overseas he was shunted into a "cushy' job at the War Office
.
Burns succeeded to the title of 4th Baron Inverclyde on 16 August 1919 and was invested as a Knight, Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem
(K.St.J.) and was admitted to The Royal Company of Archers
.
He married, firstly, Olivia Sylvia Sainsbury, daughter of Arthur Sainsbury, millionaire owner of a large chain of grocery shops, on 23 November 1926. They divorced in Scotland in 1928. Secondly he married June Howard-Tripp
, daughter of Walter Howard-Tripp, on 21 March 1929. As simply 'June', she had been a well established star of revue
and silent films, but gave up her showbusiness career on marriage, although this too was to end in divorce, in 1933.
Alan Burns published a memoir of two cruises: in his steam yacht
the "Sapphire" to India
and Malaya
in 1924/5 and in the "Beryl" around the Mediterranean in 1929. Entitled Porpoises and People, it was published in 1930. Although in part dedicated to his wife ('Topsy' in the book), in her own memoirs, June states that Burns never told her or anyone else he was writing it.
Inverclyde was on board the RMS Lancastria
when she was sunk off St. Nazaire on 17 June 1940. He was rescued by the crew of HMT Cambridgeshire, a 443-ton anti-submarine trawler, which had been requisitioned by the navy in August 1939, she was then given a 4 inch gun, machine guns and depth chargers, she herself surviving the war and, after returning to peacetime trawling in 1945 as the Kingstone Sapphire, was scrapped in 1954.
After returning to England, Lord Inverclyde presented each of his rescuers with a round rosewood box full of cigarettes, each box with an engraved silver plaque, each individually named and then given the wording "...HMS Cambridgeshire St. Nazaire to Plymouth 17th to 19th June 1940 from a grateful passenger Inverclyde/Scots Guards".
Not having inherited any business acumen from his immediate forebears he eschewed the idea of taking an active role in the running of The Cunard Steamship Company
and preferred instead the pleasant job of aide-de-camp
to the Governor of Gibraltar
. Inverclyde became a Lieutenant in the Reserve of Officers, and in 1922 was Assistant Private Secretary, in an unpaid capacity, to the Secretary of State for Scotland
.
After leaving his regiment he retired into private life as master of Wemyss and man-about-town with a bachelor flat in Mayfair
. He acquired hunters, a yacht, a grouse
moor.
During the winter he rode with the Eglinton in Ayrshire
; in the early summer months he cruised the Mediterranean; in the late summer and early autumn he shot grouse. His civic duties were not obligatory and, according to his second wife, June, he never took more than cursory interest in local matters. He did, however, endow two public buildings which remain in use: the Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre
at Largs
and the Inverclyde Centre in Greenock
as a British Sailors Society home, now used by the local authority's homeless persons unit.
Lord Inverclyde died on 17 June 1957, at the age of 59, without issue, the title becoming extinct on his death. The name Inverclyde was however resurrected in the early 1970s for the new local authority district
centred on Greenock, a creation of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
. The local newspaper, the Greenock Telegraph
, said that the name "would in a way be a tribute to a man whose interest in the area was always constant" [sic]. Inverclyde remains as a Scottish council area.
John Alan Burns, 4th Baron Inverclyde, K.St.J
(12 December 1897 – 17 June 1957), the son of James Cleland Burns, 3rd Baron Inverclyde
of Castle Wemyss
and Charlotte Mary Emily Nugent-Dunbar, was educated at Eton College
, Eton
, Berkshire
and The Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Berkshire. Joining The Scots Guards
, he was wounded by a German bullet while going 'over the top' in France
. He reached the rank of Lieutenant in the First World War and served as a Captain with The Scots Guards in the Second World War.
As a subaltern in the Scots Guards he fought in France until wounded by a bullet through the palm of one hand. Gangrene
impeded swift healing, but at last he was ready to return to the front and confided in a friend that if he had to die for it, he would try to win a decoration for gallantry in action to make his father proud of him. But instead of being sent overseas he was shunted into a "cushy' job at the War Office
.
Burns succeeded to the title of 4th Baron Inverclyde on 16 August 1919 and was invested as a Knight, Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem
(K.St.J.) and was admitted to The Royal Company of Archers
.
He married, firstly, Olivia Sylvia Sainsbury, daughter of Arthur Sainsbury, millionaire owner of a large chain of grocery shops, on 23 November 1926. They divorced in Scotland in 1928. Secondly he married June Howard-Tripp
, daughter of Walter Howard-Tripp, on 21 March 1929. As simply 'June', she had been a well established star of revue
and silent films, but gave up her showbusiness career on marriage, although this too was to end in divorce, in 1933.
Alan Burns published a memoir of two cruises: in his steam yacht
the "Sapphire" to India
and Malaya
in 1924/5 and in the "Beryl" around the Mediterranean in 1929. Entitled Porpoises and People, it was published in 1930. Although in part dedicated to his wife ('Topsy' in the book), in her own memoirs, June states that Burns never told her or anyone else he was writing it.
Inverclyde was on board the RMS Lancastria
when she was sunk off St. Nazaire on 17 June 1940. He was rescued by the crew of HMT Cambridgeshire, a 443-ton anti-submarine trawler, which had been requisitioned by the navy in August 1939, she was then given a 4 inch gun, machine guns and depth chargers, she herself surviving the war and, after returning to peacetime trawling in 1945 as the Kingstone Sapphire, was scrapped in 1954.
After returning to England, Lord Inverclyde presented each of his rescuers with a round rosewood box full of cigarettes, each box with an engraved silver plaque, each individually named and then given the wording "...HMS Cambridgeshire St. Nazaire to Plymouth 17th to 19th June 1940 from a grateful passenger Inverclyde/Scots Guards".
Not having inherited any business acumen from his immediate forebears he eschewed the idea of taking an active role in the running of The Cunard Steamship Company
and preferred instead the pleasant job of aide-de-camp
to the Governor of Gibraltar
. Inverclyde became a Lieutenant in the Reserve of Officers, and in 1922 was Assistant Private Secretary, in an unpaid capacity, to the Secretary of State for Scotland
.
After leaving his regiment he retired into private life as master of Wemyss and man-about-town with a bachelor flat in Mayfair
. He acquired hunters, a yacht, a grouse
moor.
During the winter he rode with the Eglinton in Ayrshire
; in the early summer months he cruised the Mediterranean; in the late summer and early autumn he shot grouse. His civic duties were not obligatory and, according to his second wife, June, he never took more than cursory interest in local matters. He did, however, endow two public buildings which remain in use: the Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre
at Largs
and the Inverclyde Centre in Greenock
as a British Sailors Society home, now used by the local authority's homeless persons unit.
Lord Inverclyde died on 17 June 1957, at the age of 59, without issue, the title becoming extinct on his death. The name Inverclyde was however resurrected in the early 1970s for the new local authority district
centred on Greenock, a creation of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
. The local newspaper, the Greenock Telegraph
, said that the name "would in a way be a tribute to a man whose interest in the area was always constant" [sic]. Inverclyde remains as a Scottish council area.
Venerable Order of Saint John
The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
(12 December 1897 – 17 June 1957), the son of James Cleland Burns, 3rd Baron Inverclyde
James Burns, 3rd Baron Inverclyde
James Cleland Burns, 3rd Baron Inverclyde, was second son of John Burns, the first Lord Inverclyde, and grandson of Sir George Burns, 1st Baronet, the founder of the Cunard Line...
of Castle Wemyss
Castle Wemyss
Castle Wemyss was a large mansion in Wemyss Bay, Scotland.It stood high on Wemyss Point, overlooking the Firth of Clyde where it heads south towards the North Channel of the Irish Sea. It was built around 1850 for Charles Wilsone Brown, a property developer who had plans to develop the land around...
and Charlotte Mary Emily Nugent-Dunbar, was educated at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, Eton
Eton, Berkshire
Eton is a town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, lying on the opposite bank of the River Thames to Windsor and connected to it by Windsor Bridge. The parish also includes the large village of Eton Wick, 2 miles west of the town, and has a population of 4,980. Eton was in Buckinghamshire until...
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
and The Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Berkshire. Joining The Scots Guards
Scots Guards
The Scots Guards is a regiment of the Guards Division of the British Army, whose origins lie in the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland...
, he was wounded by a German bullet while going 'over the top' in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He reached the rank of Lieutenant in the First World War and served as a Captain with The Scots Guards in the Second World War.
As a subaltern in the Scots Guards he fought in France until wounded by a bullet through the palm of one hand. Gangrene
Gangrene
Gangrene is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a considerable mass of body tissue dies . This may occur after an injury or infection, or in people suffering from any chronic health problem affecting blood circulation. The primary cause of gangrene is reduced blood...
impeded swift healing, but at last he was ready to return to the front and confided in a friend that if he had to die for it, he would try to win a decoration for gallantry in action to make his father proud of him. But instead of being sent overseas he was shunted into a "cushy' job at the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
.
Burns succeeded to the title of 4th Baron Inverclyde on 16 August 1919 and was invested as a Knight, Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem
Venerable Order of Saint John
The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
(K.St.J.) and was admitted to The Royal Company of Archers
Royal Company of Archers
The Royal Company of Archers is a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's Bodyguard in Scotland, a role it has performed since 1822 and the reign of King George IV, when the company provided a personal bodyguard to the King on his visit to Scotland. It is currently known as the Queen's...
.
He married, firstly, Olivia Sylvia Sainsbury, daughter of Arthur Sainsbury, millionaire owner of a large chain of grocery shops, on 23 November 1926. They divorced in Scotland in 1928. Secondly he married June Howard-Tripp
June Tripp
June Tripp , sometimes known just by her screen name, June, was a British actress.Born June Howard-Tripp in London, she worked mainly on stage . She made a handful of films, mostly in the silent era...
, daughter of Walter Howard-Tripp, on 21 March 1929. As simply 'June', she had been a well established star of revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
and silent films, but gave up her showbusiness career on marriage, although this too was to end in divorce, in 1933.
Alan Burns published a memoir of two cruises: in his steam yacht
Steam yacht
A steam yacht is a class of luxury or commercial yacht with primary or secondary steam propulsion in addition to the sails usually carried by yachts.-Origin of the name:...
the "Sapphire" to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Malaya
British Malaya
British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
in 1924/5 and in the "Beryl" around the Mediterranean in 1929. Entitled Porpoises and People, it was published in 1930. Although in part dedicated to his wife ('Topsy' in the book), in her own memoirs, June states that Burns never told her or anyone else he was writing it.
Inverclyde was on board the RMS Lancastria
RMS Lancastria
The RMS Lancastria was a British Cunard liner sunk on 17 June 1940 during World War II with the loss of an estimated 4,000 plus lives. It is the worst single loss of life in British maritime history and the bloodiest single engagement for UK forces , in the whole conflict and claimed more lives...
when she was sunk off St. Nazaire on 17 June 1940. He was rescued by the crew of HMT Cambridgeshire, a 443-ton anti-submarine trawler, which had been requisitioned by the navy in August 1939, she was then given a 4 inch gun, machine guns and depth chargers, she herself surviving the war and, after returning to peacetime trawling in 1945 as the Kingstone Sapphire, was scrapped in 1954.
After returning to England, Lord Inverclyde presented each of his rescuers with a round rosewood box full of cigarettes, each box with an engraved silver plaque, each individually named and then given the wording "...HMS Cambridgeshire St. Nazaire to Plymouth 17th to 19th June 1940 from a grateful passenger Inverclyde/Scots Guards".
Not having inherited any business acumen from his immediate forebears he eschewed the idea of taking an active role in the running of The Cunard Steamship Company
Cunard Line
Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
and preferred instead the pleasant job of aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
to the Governor of Gibraltar
Governor of Gibraltar
The Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The Governor is appointed by the British Monarch on the advice of the British Government...
. Inverclyde became a Lieutenant in the Reserve of Officers, and in 1922 was Assistant Private Secretary, in an unpaid capacity, to the Secretary of State for Scotland
Secretary of State for Scotland
The Secretary of State for Scotland is the principal minister of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Scotland. He heads the Scotland Office , a government department based in London and Edinburgh. The post was created soon after the Union of the Crowns, but was...
.
After leaving his regiment he retired into private life as master of Wemyss and man-about-town with a bachelor flat in Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
. He acquired hunters, a yacht, a grouse
Grouse
Grouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are sometimes considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...
moor.
During the winter he rode with the Eglinton in Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...
; in the early summer months he cruised the Mediterranean; in the late summer and early autumn he shot grouse. His civic duties were not obligatory and, according to his second wife, June, he never took more than cursory interest in local matters. He did, however, endow two public buildings which remain in use: the Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre
Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre
National Centre Inverclyde, formerly Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre is an elite athlete sports facility in Largs, North Ayrshire, Scotland.-History:...
at Largs
Largs
Largs is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" in Scottish Gaelic....
and the Inverclyde Centre in Greenock
Greenock
Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...
as a British Sailors Society home, now used by the local authority's homeless persons unit.
Lord Inverclyde died on 17 June 1957, at the age of 59, without issue, the title becoming extinct on his death. The name Inverclyde was however resurrected in the early 1970s for the new local authority district
Inverclyde
Inverclyde is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the historic county of Renfrewshire - which current exists as a registration county and lieutenancy area - located in the west...
centred on Greenock, a creation of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
The Local Government Act 1973 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that reformed local government in Scotland, on May 16, 1975....
. The local newspaper, the Greenock Telegraph
Greenock Telegraph
The Greenock Telegraph is a local daily newspaper serving Inverclyde, Scotland.Founded in 1857, it was the first halfpenny daily newspaper in Britain. It was for a time Greenock Telegraph and Clyde Shipping Gazette, owing to the massive amount of maritime traffic moving in and out of Greenock's...
, said that the name "would in a way be a tribute to a man whose interest in the area was always constant" [sic]. Inverclyde remains as a Scottish council area.
John Alan Burns, 4th Baron Inverclyde, K.St.J
Venerable Order of Saint John
The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
(12 December 1897 – 17 June 1957), the son of James Cleland Burns, 3rd Baron Inverclyde
James Burns, 3rd Baron Inverclyde
James Cleland Burns, 3rd Baron Inverclyde, was second son of John Burns, the first Lord Inverclyde, and grandson of Sir George Burns, 1st Baronet, the founder of the Cunard Line...
of Castle Wemyss
Castle Wemyss
Castle Wemyss was a large mansion in Wemyss Bay, Scotland.It stood high on Wemyss Point, overlooking the Firth of Clyde where it heads south towards the North Channel of the Irish Sea. It was built around 1850 for Charles Wilsone Brown, a property developer who had plans to develop the land around...
and Charlotte Mary Emily Nugent-Dunbar, was educated at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, Eton
Eton, Berkshire
Eton is a town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, lying on the opposite bank of the River Thames to Windsor and connected to it by Windsor Bridge. The parish also includes the large village of Eton Wick, 2 miles west of the town, and has a population of 4,980. Eton was in Buckinghamshire until...
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
and The Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Berkshire. Joining The Scots Guards
Scots Guards
The Scots Guards is a regiment of the Guards Division of the British Army, whose origins lie in the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland...
, he was wounded by a German bullet while going 'over the top' in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He reached the rank of Lieutenant in the First World War and served as a Captain with The Scots Guards in the Second World War.
As a subaltern in the Scots Guards he fought in France until wounded by a bullet through the palm of one hand. Gangrene
Gangrene
Gangrene is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a considerable mass of body tissue dies . This may occur after an injury or infection, or in people suffering from any chronic health problem affecting blood circulation. The primary cause of gangrene is reduced blood...
impeded swift healing, but at last he was ready to return to the front and confided in a friend that if he had to die for it, he would try to win a decoration for gallantry in action to make his father proud of him. But instead of being sent overseas he was shunted into a "cushy' job at the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
.
Burns succeeded to the title of 4th Baron Inverclyde on 16 August 1919 and was invested as a Knight, Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem
Venerable Order of Saint John
The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
(K.St.J.) and was admitted to The Royal Company of Archers
Royal Company of Archers
The Royal Company of Archers is a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's Bodyguard in Scotland, a role it has performed since 1822 and the reign of King George IV, when the company provided a personal bodyguard to the King on his visit to Scotland. It is currently known as the Queen's...
.
He married, firstly, Olivia Sylvia Sainsbury, daughter of Arthur Sainsbury, millionaire owner of a large chain of grocery shops, on 23 November 1926. They divorced in Scotland in 1928. Secondly he married June Howard-Tripp
June Tripp
June Tripp , sometimes known just by her screen name, June, was a British actress.Born June Howard-Tripp in London, she worked mainly on stage . She made a handful of films, mostly in the silent era...
, daughter of Walter Howard-Tripp, on 21 March 1929. As simply 'June', she had been a well established star of revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
and silent films, but gave up her showbusiness career on marriage, although this too was to end in divorce, in 1933.
Alan Burns published a memoir of two cruises: in his steam yacht
Steam yacht
A steam yacht is a class of luxury or commercial yacht with primary or secondary steam propulsion in addition to the sails usually carried by yachts.-Origin of the name:...
the "Sapphire" to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Malaya
British Malaya
British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
in 1924/5 and in the "Beryl" around the Mediterranean in 1929. Entitled Porpoises and People, it was published in 1930. Although in part dedicated to his wife ('Topsy' in the book), in her own memoirs, June states that Burns never told her or anyone else he was writing it.
Inverclyde was on board the RMS Lancastria
RMS Lancastria
The RMS Lancastria was a British Cunard liner sunk on 17 June 1940 during World War II with the loss of an estimated 4,000 plus lives. It is the worst single loss of life in British maritime history and the bloodiest single engagement for UK forces , in the whole conflict and claimed more lives...
when she was sunk off St. Nazaire on 17 June 1940. He was rescued by the crew of HMT Cambridgeshire, a 443-ton anti-submarine trawler, which had been requisitioned by the navy in August 1939, she was then given a 4 inch gun, machine guns and depth chargers, she herself surviving the war and, after returning to peacetime trawling in 1945 as the Kingstone Sapphire, was scrapped in 1954.
After returning to England, Lord Inverclyde presented each of his rescuers with a round rosewood box full of cigarettes, each box with an engraved silver plaque, each individually named and then given the wording "...HMS Cambridgeshire St. Nazaire to Plymouth 17th to 19th June 1940 from a grateful passenger Inverclyde/Scots Guards".
Not having inherited any business acumen from his immediate forebears he eschewed the idea of taking an active role in the running of The Cunard Steamship Company
Cunard Line
Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
and preferred instead the pleasant job of aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
to the Governor of Gibraltar
Governor of Gibraltar
The Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The Governor is appointed by the British Monarch on the advice of the British Government...
. Inverclyde became a Lieutenant in the Reserve of Officers, and in 1922 was Assistant Private Secretary, in an unpaid capacity, to the Secretary of State for Scotland
Secretary of State for Scotland
The Secretary of State for Scotland is the principal minister of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Scotland. He heads the Scotland Office , a government department based in London and Edinburgh. The post was created soon after the Union of the Crowns, but was...
.
After leaving his regiment he retired into private life as master of Wemyss and man-about-town with a bachelor flat in Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
. He acquired hunters, a yacht, a grouse
Grouse
Grouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are sometimes considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...
moor.
During the winter he rode with the Eglinton in Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...
; in the early summer months he cruised the Mediterranean; in the late summer and early autumn he shot grouse. His civic duties were not obligatory and, according to his second wife, June, he never took more than cursory interest in local matters. He did, however, endow two public buildings which remain in use: the Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre
Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre
National Centre Inverclyde, formerly Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre is an elite athlete sports facility in Largs, North Ayrshire, Scotland.-History:...
at Largs
Largs
Largs is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" in Scottish Gaelic....
and the Inverclyde Centre in Greenock
Greenock
Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...
as a British Sailors Society home, now used by the local authority's homeless persons unit.
Lord Inverclyde died on 17 June 1957, at the age of 59, without issue, the title becoming extinct on his death. The name Inverclyde was however resurrected in the early 1970s for the new local authority district
Inverclyde
Inverclyde is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the historic county of Renfrewshire - which current exists as a registration county and lieutenancy area - located in the west...
centred on Greenock, a creation of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
The Local Government Act 1973 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that reformed local government in Scotland, on May 16, 1975....
. The local newspaper, the Greenock Telegraph
Greenock Telegraph
The Greenock Telegraph is a local daily newspaper serving Inverclyde, Scotland.Founded in 1857, it was the first halfpenny daily newspaper in Britain. It was for a time Greenock Telegraph and Clyde Shipping Gazette, owing to the massive amount of maritime traffic moving in and out of Greenock's...
, said that the name "would in a way be a tribute to a man whose interest in the area was always constant" [sic]. Inverclyde remains as a Scottish council area.
John Alan Burns, 4th Baron Inverclyde, K.St.J
Venerable Order of Saint John
The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
(12 December 1897 – 17 June 1957), the son of James Cleland Burns, 3rd Baron Inverclyde
James Burns, 3rd Baron Inverclyde
James Cleland Burns, 3rd Baron Inverclyde, was second son of John Burns, the first Lord Inverclyde, and grandson of Sir George Burns, 1st Baronet, the founder of the Cunard Line...
of Castle Wemyss
Castle Wemyss
Castle Wemyss was a large mansion in Wemyss Bay, Scotland.It stood high on Wemyss Point, overlooking the Firth of Clyde where it heads south towards the North Channel of the Irish Sea. It was built around 1850 for Charles Wilsone Brown, a property developer who had plans to develop the land around...
and Charlotte Mary Emily Nugent-Dunbar, was educated at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, Eton
Eton, Berkshire
Eton is a town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, lying on the opposite bank of the River Thames to Windsor and connected to it by Windsor Bridge. The parish also includes the large village of Eton Wick, 2 miles west of the town, and has a population of 4,980. Eton was in Buckinghamshire until...
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
and The Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Berkshire. Joining The Scots Guards
Scots Guards
The Scots Guards is a regiment of the Guards Division of the British Army, whose origins lie in the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland...
, he was wounded by a German bullet while going 'over the top' in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He reached the rank of Lieutenant in the First World War and served as a Captain with The Scots Guards in the Second World War.
As a subaltern in the Scots Guards he fought in France until wounded by a bullet through the palm of one hand. Gangrene
Gangrene
Gangrene is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a considerable mass of body tissue dies . This may occur after an injury or infection, or in people suffering from any chronic health problem affecting blood circulation. The primary cause of gangrene is reduced blood...
impeded swift healing, but at last he was ready to return to the front and confided in a friend that if he had to die for it, he would try to win a decoration for gallantry in action to make his father proud of him. But instead of being sent overseas he was shunted into a "cushy' job at the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
.
Burns succeeded to the title of 4th Baron Inverclyde on 16 August 1919 and was invested as a Knight, Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem
Venerable Order of Saint John
The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
(K.St.J.) and was admitted to The Royal Company of Archers
Royal Company of Archers
The Royal Company of Archers is a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's Bodyguard in Scotland, a role it has performed since 1822 and the reign of King George IV, when the company provided a personal bodyguard to the King on his visit to Scotland. It is currently known as the Queen's...
.
He married, firstly, Olivia Sylvia Sainsbury, daughter of Arthur Sainsbury, millionaire owner of a large chain of grocery shops, on 23 November 1926. They divorced in Scotland in 1928. Secondly he married June Howard-Tripp
June Tripp
June Tripp , sometimes known just by her screen name, June, was a British actress.Born June Howard-Tripp in London, she worked mainly on stage . She made a handful of films, mostly in the silent era...
, daughter of Walter Howard-Tripp, on 21 March 1929. As simply 'June', she had been a well established star of revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
and silent films, but gave up her showbusiness career on marriage, although this too was to end in divorce, in 1933.
Alan Burns published a memoir of two cruises: in his steam yacht
Steam yacht
A steam yacht is a class of luxury or commercial yacht with primary or secondary steam propulsion in addition to the sails usually carried by yachts.-Origin of the name:...
the "Sapphire" to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Malaya
British Malaya
British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
in 1924/5 and in the "Beryl" around the Mediterranean in 1929. Entitled Porpoises and People, it was published in 1930. Although in part dedicated to his wife ('Topsy' in the book), in her own memoirs, June states that Burns never told her or anyone else he was writing it.
Inverclyde was on board the RMS Lancastria
RMS Lancastria
The RMS Lancastria was a British Cunard liner sunk on 17 June 1940 during World War II with the loss of an estimated 4,000 plus lives. It is the worst single loss of life in British maritime history and the bloodiest single engagement for UK forces , in the whole conflict and claimed more lives...
when she was sunk off St. Nazaire on 17 June 1940. He was rescued by the crew of HMT Cambridgeshire, a 443-ton anti-submarine trawler, which had been requisitioned by the navy in August 1939, she was then given a 4 inch gun, machine guns and depth chargers, she herself surviving the war and, after returning to peacetime trawling in 1945 as the Kingstone Sapphire, was scrapped in 1954.
After returning to England, Lord Inverclyde presented each of his rescuers with a round rosewood box full of cigarettes, each box with an engraved silver plaque, each individually named and then given the wording "...HMS Cambridgeshire St. Nazaire to Plymouth 17th to 19th June 1940 from a grateful passenger Inverclyde/Scots Guards".
Not having inherited any business acumen from his immediate forebears he eschewed the idea of taking an active role in the running of The Cunard Steamship Company
Cunard Line
Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
and preferred instead the pleasant job of aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
to the Governor of Gibraltar
Governor of Gibraltar
The Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The Governor is appointed by the British Monarch on the advice of the British Government...
. Inverclyde became a Lieutenant in the Reserve of Officers, and in 1922 was Assistant Private Secretary, in an unpaid capacity, to the Secretary of State for Scotland
Secretary of State for Scotland
The Secretary of State for Scotland is the principal minister of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Scotland. He heads the Scotland Office , a government department based in London and Edinburgh. The post was created soon after the Union of the Crowns, but was...
.
After leaving his regiment he retired into private life as master of Wemyss and man-about-town with a bachelor flat in Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
. He acquired hunters, a yacht, a grouse
Grouse
Grouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are sometimes considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...
moor.
During the winter he rode with the Eglinton in Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...
; in the early summer months he cruised the Mediterranean; in the late summer and early autumn he shot grouse. His civic duties were not obligatory and, according to his second wife, June, he never took more than cursory interest in local matters. He did, however, endow two public buildings which remain in use: the Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre
Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre
National Centre Inverclyde, formerly Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre is an elite athlete sports facility in Largs, North Ayrshire, Scotland.-History:...
at Largs
Largs
Largs is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" in Scottish Gaelic....
and the Inverclyde Centre in Greenock
Greenock
Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...
as a British Sailors Society home, now used by the local authority's homeless persons unit.
Lord Inverclyde died on 17 June 1957, at the age of 59, without issue, the title becoming extinct on his death. The name Inverclyde was however resurrected in the early 1970s for the new local authority district
Inverclyde
Inverclyde is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the historic county of Renfrewshire - which current exists as a registration county and lieutenancy area - located in the west...
centred on Greenock, a creation of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
The Local Government Act 1973 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that reformed local government in Scotland, on May 16, 1975....
. The local newspaper, the Greenock Telegraph
Greenock Telegraph
The Greenock Telegraph is a local daily newspaper serving Inverclyde, Scotland.Founded in 1857, it was the first halfpenny daily newspaper in Britain. It was for a time Greenock Telegraph and Clyde Shipping Gazette, owing to the massive amount of maritime traffic moving in and out of Greenock's...
, said that the name "would in a way be a tribute to a man whose interest in the area was always constant" [sic]. Inverclyde remains as a Scottish council area.