Always called by his second name Douglas, he was born 6 Jan 1876 and died Dec 1952. He began by ranching in Texas in 1899. In 1903 he moved to South Africa and farmed in the Orange Free State, near the Basutoland Border. On the outbreak of war in 1914 he sold his farm and joined the Natal Carbineers, with whom he served in the occupation of German South West Africa, attaining the rank of sergeant. At the end of that campaign he returned to England and after attending OCTU was commissioned into the Dorset Yeomanry. He joined that regiment in Egypt (being then in his 41st year) and took part with them in 1916-1918 in their campaign against the Turks in Palestine and Syria.

He took part in their (mounted) charges at El Xughar, Abu Shusheh and Er Remte, in the last of which he gained the Military Cross. He rose to be a squadron commander, with the rank of Captain. After the war he continued to serve with them as a territorial until 1934, when he retired with a brevet as a Lieutenant-Colonel, having been awarded the O.B.E.

After the war he returned to England and for the rest of his life lived and worked on the Sherborne Castle estate (the incumbent of which had been one of his fellow officers). After a few years of farming he became one of the several agents involved in the administration of that estate, in which capacity he was active until a few days before his death. Becoming a J.P. and being involved in a great number of local activities, he became a popular and much respected figure in the neighbourhood and a large congregation attended his memorial service in Sherborne Abbey.

He married January 3, 1925, Jane, daughter of David Martin of County Down and widow, S. P., of Cecil Selby Lowndes, They had no children.

Reprinted from:
• Lidderdale, Robert Halliday, An Account of the Lowland Scots Family of Lidderdale, 1950.
• Lidderdale, Halliday Adair, The Descendants of John Lidderdale 1783-1845, 1988, unpublished manuscript.

Douglas qualified for the British Army's 1914-15 Star for his service as Sergeant, Natal Carbineers, Dorset Yeomanry, S.W. Africa, on Dec. 11, 1914. The 1914-15 Star is the British World War I medal for those who saw service between August 5, 1914 and December 31, 1915. The medal was issued named, with the recipient's details impressed on the star's reverse. All recipients of this medal also received the British War Medal and Victory Medal. Approximately 2,366,000 of the 1914-15 Star medals were issued.