Sir George Stirling, 9th Baronet


Colonel Sir George Home Murray Stirling, 9th Baronet, was a Scottish British Army officer who was Lord Lieutenant of Stirlingshire from 1936 until 1949.

Background

Stirling was the son of Sir Charles Stirling, 8th Baronet by his wife Anna Georgina Murray, daughter of James Murray.
He succeeded his father as Baronet, of Glorat, Stirlingshire, in 1910. The baronetcy had been created in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia in 1666.

Career

Stirling was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Essex Regiment on 9 November 1889, and was promoted to lieutenant on 7 October 1892. He served in British India, where he was a transport officer in the Chitral Relief Force under Major-General Sir Robert Low in 1895, then transport officer in the Tirah Campaign on the North-West Frontier 1897-98.
Stirling served in the Second Boer War in South Africa throughout the war from 1899 until 1902. He was promoted captain on 29 January 1900. He took part in operations in the Orange Free State March to May 1900, including the battles of Poplar Grove, Driefontein and Sanna's Post, Houtnek, Vet River and Zand River ; then took part in operations in Transvaal May and June 1900, including actions near Johannesburg, Pretoria and the battle of Diamond Hill. Appointed adjutant of the Burma Mounted Infantry on 15 June 1900, he saw further action in the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal until October 1900, during which he was slightly wounded. On 1 October 1900 he was appointed Staff officer at Mounted Infantry Headquarters, serving as such until 19 February 1902, when he was appointed Officer Commanding Transport in the Bloemfontein district. The war ended with the Peace of Vereeniging in June 1902, and he stepped down from his command on 21 August, leaving Cape Town for the United Kingdom on the SS Scot the following month. For his service in the war, he was mentioned in despatches, received the Queen's and King's South Africa medals, and was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order.
He was later promoted to colonel.
Stirling was Lord-Lieutenant of Stirlingshire from 29 October 1936 until his death on 1 May 1949.

Family

Stirling married, in 1904, Mabel Elizabeth Sprot, daughter of Sir Alexander Sprot, 1st Baronet. Lady Stirling was a Justice of the Peace and a Member of the Order of the British Empire. They had an only daughter, Jean Margaret Stirling, and the baronetcy became dormant on his death, the possible American heirs not having claimed it.