A historic connection

There are few in the military or amongst those who remember the Second World War who don’t know the story of the MacRobert family. Lady Rachel MacRobert (1884 – 1954) and Sir Alexander MacRobert (1854 – 1922) had three sons, Alasdair, Roderic and Iain.

The eldest, Alasdair, was killed in a civil flying accident in 1938, aged just twenty-six. On his death, the baronetcy passed to Roderic, a pilot in the Royal Air Force. Roderic was lost in action just three years later on May 22nd 1941, also at the age of twenty-six, while leading a flight of Hurricanes in a strafing attack on a German-held airfield in Iraq. The baronetcy now passed to the youngest son, Iain, who was by then a pilot officer in the RAF having joined straight from Cambridge University. Less than six weeks after the death of his brother, Iain was reported missing when his Blenheim aircraft failed to return from a search and rescue mission. He was twenty-four years old.

Lady MacRobert’s response on hearing of the loss of her sons gives a flavour of her character. She made a donation of £25,000 to purchase a bomber for the RAF and asked that it be named “MacRobert’s Reply”.

The chosen bomber was a Stirling of XV Squadron, which was handed over in October 1941 to its first captain, Flying Officer PJS Boggis, who captained it on twelve operational missions.

This was the start of a tradition that the RAF has kept alive. A succession of RAF aircraft has since carried the name. In 1942, Lady MacRobert donated a further £20,000 to purchase four Hurricane fighters, which were sent to RAF operations in the Middle East. Three were named after her sons and the fourth after her.

Today, The MacRobert Trust extends its connection to all the services (and reserves) in a variety of ways, including through its charitable grants (which includes the theme ‘service and sea’), by hosting the annual cadets parade at Douneside House, and via the establishment and continuation of the MacRobert Sword Prize – awarded each year to the best new entrant reserve officer in each of the services.

For a number of years, until a major renovation in 2015, Douneside House was used (almost exclusively) as a holiday retreat for Commissioned Officers, with rates subsidised by The MacRobert Trust. In recent years, this subsidy model had to be reviewed and ultimately remodelled by MacRobert Trust’s Board of Trustees to ensure The MacRobert Trust continues to comply with the rules set out by the Charity Regulator.  Nowadays, Douneside House is open to all, and it is run as a subsidiary company of The MacRobert Trust.  The Board of Trustees are delighted that, through the establishment of the Douneside Military Club, members of the armed forces can continue to benefit from significantly discounted rates at Douneside House throughout the year.