John Arbuthnott, 16th Viscount of Arbuthnott


John Campbell Arbuthnott, 16th Viscount of Arbuthnott, was a Scottish peer, Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire and a notable businessman.

Education

Arbuthnott was educated at Fettes College, Edinburgh and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied estate management graduating with a BA degree in 1949; and a MA degree in 1967. He held an Honorary LL.D. degree from Aberdeen University.

War service

During the Second World War, Arbuthnott served in the near and Far East and Pacific theatre with the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1945.

Career

Arbuthnott was a chartered surveyor and a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a Land Agent, a Justice of the Peace and a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He served with the Agricultural Land Service division of the Ministry of Agriculture, was Senior Land Agent for Nature Conservancy in Scotland, member of the Countryside Commission, Chairman of the Red Deer Commission 1969–75, President of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, President of the Scottish Landowners' Federation, and a member of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society, the RSGS ; Federation of Agricultural Co-operatives Ltd ; Deputy Chairman of the Nature Conservancy Council ; and Chairman of the Advisory Committee for Scotland.
Arbuthnott was a director of Aberdeen & Northern Markets, and served as a director of the investment firm Scottish Widows, and was elected as chairman of the society. He was a member of the Scottish North investment Trust, and a director of Britoil plc, and joined the British Petroleum Scottish Advisory Board. In 1985, Clydesdale Bank appointed Arbuthnott as a main board director, a position that lasted until 1992.

Affiliations

Arbuthnott was Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Prior of the Scottish Venerable Order of St John , and served as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, on the Royal Commission on Historic Manuscripts, and a member of the Aberdeen University Court, and Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Farmers.

Honours

Arbuthnott was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1986 New Year Honours, and made a Knight of the Order of the Thistle in 1996.

Death

Following Arbuthnott's death, a service of thanksgiving for his life was held at St Machar's Cathedral, Aberdeen, on 14 September 2012.

Family

Arbuthnott was the son of Major General Keith Arbuthnott, 15th Viscount of Arbuthnott. He married Mary Elizabeth Darley Oxley on 3 September 1949; they had two children, one son and one daughter:
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