Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 22.djvu/365

 continent, he offered himself, in 1772, as a parliamentary candidate for Perthshire, but was defeated by a brother of the Duke of Atholl. On 26 Dec. 1774 Graham married Catherine, second daughter of Charles, ninth lord Cathcart [q. v.], the lady's elder sister being married at the same time and place to John Murray, fourth duke of Atholl [q. v.] Soon after, Graham took Brooksby, in the Leicestershire hunting country, where some of his married life was passed, varied by continental tours. In 1780, Mrs. Graham's health requiring a southern climate, they went to Spain and resided some years there and in Portugal, afterwards returning to Scotland. In 1785 Graham's name appears in the first cricket match played in Scotland. It was between two teams of gentlemen players, for 1,000l. a side, and came off on 3 Sept. 1785, in Shaw Park. Graham's score of twenty in both innings was the second highest made. In 1787 he purchased the small estate of Lednoch or Lynedoch, in Methven parish, eight miles from Perth, and spent much money in developing it. Graham took an active interest all his life in agricultural improvements, and is described at this period as a crack rider and shot and a very keen sportsman. He introduced Cleveland horses and Devon cattle, and did much to improve local husbandry (, Agric. of Perthshire, 1790, pp. 304–9). In 1790 Mrs. Graham's health again required removal to a warmer climate, and after a lingering illness she died on shipboard off Hyères, on 26 July 1791, without issue.

Deeply stricken by the loss of his wife, to whom he was tenderly attached, Graham sought distraction in foreign travel, and was at Gibraltar when Lord Hood's fleet called there, on its way to the Mediterranean, in July 1793. Graham obtained permission to accompany it as a volunteer, and acted as aide-de-camp to Lord Mulgrave in the operations on shore at Toulon. Returning home he raised a battalion called the ‘Perthshire Volunteers,’ which was numbered as the 90th Foot (now the 2nd Scotch Rifles). Through the good offices of Lord Moira, the new battalion was equipped and drilled as light infantry, being in fact the senior light infantry corps existing in the British army, although it did not receive the title until 1815. Graham's commission (temporary) as lieutenant-colonel commandant was dated 10 Feb. 1794; Rowland Hill, afterwards Lord Hill, was lieutenant-colonel, and Kenneth Mackenzie, afterwards Sir Kenneth Douglas [q. v.], was one of the majors of the corps. In April the same year Graham was returned to parliament, in the whig interest, for the county of Perth. He served with his regiment in various camps in the south of England, in the operations at Quiberon and Isle Dieu under General Sir John Doyle [q. v.], and afterwards accompanied it to Gibraltar. On 22 July 1795 he became brevet-colonel. In 1796 he was appointed British military commissioner with the Austrian army in Italy, and was shut up in Mantua with General Wurmser during the investment of that place by the French. As the siege continued the garrison ran short of provisions, and it was resolved at a council of war to acquaint the imperialist commander-in-chief, Alvinza, with their dire straits. Graham offered himself as a volunteer for the purpose, and leaving the fortress, disguised as a peasant, in the midst of a heavy snowstorm, on the night of 29 Dec. 1796, lying hid by day, and travelling through swamps and marshes by night, he succeeded in eluding the French patrols, and reached the Austrian headquarters on 4 Jan. 1797. After visiting home, he rejoined his regiment at Gibraltar. He distinguished himself at the capture of Minorca in 1798, and in May 1799 was despatched with two British regiments to organise the defences of Messina, the strategic importance of which had been strongly insisted on by Admiral Nelson, then in the bay of Naples. He remained in command of a mixed force of British and Neapolitans at Messina until November 1799, when he was sent as brigadier-general in command of the troops despatched to Malta, then blockaded by sea by Captain Alexander Ball [q. v.], of the royal navy. Graham resolved on starving out the place as the most humane method of reducing it, and, with the regiments he brought with him and some corps organised on the island, established a close land-blockade of the French garrison of Valetta. This was maintained for two years, until September 1800, when the place capitulated. Graham had been superseded in the command by Major-general Pigot just before. After the surrender, Graham sailed to join his regiment, which had greatly distinguished itself in Egypt. On his arrival there the military operations were over, and Graham, in company with Mr. Hely Hutchinson, brother of Abercromby's successor, travelled home through Turkey, staying some time at Constantinople. He was in Paris after the peace of Amiens, and with his regiment in Ireland in 1804–5, until its departure for the West Indies, after which he was in London, attending to his parliamentary duties. He had been again returned for Perthshire in 1795, 1802, and 1806, but was defeated, after a contest, by James Drummond in 1807 and 1812. Graham's first recorded speech in ‘Parl. Debates’ was