Military career
The only child of George Cathcart, 5th Earl Cathcart and Vera, Countess Cathcart, Alan was educated at Eton College and Magdelene College, Cambridge, Cathcart was commissioned into the Scots Guards in 1939.
He served in the Second World War and went on to be Adjutant at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst after the war. He was made Adjutant of the Scots Guards in 1951 and Brigade Major for 4th Guards Brigade in 1954. He then went on to be Commanding Officer of 1st Battalion Scots Guards in 1957.
He was posted to Scottish Command in 1962 and became Commander of 152nd Infantry Brigade in 1965. He next transferred to the Operations Division of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in 1967 and then became General Officer Commanding Yorkshire District in 1969. Finally he was appointed Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin in 1970: he retired in 1973.
On retirement from the Army he became a Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords.
Family
In 1946 he married Rosemary Clare Marie Gabrielle Smyth-Osborne: they went on to have one son and two daughters. Following the death of his first wife, he married Marie Isobel Weldon in 1984.
Squadron Activities
In 1974 Lord Runciman retired as Commodore, handing over to Major General The Earl Cathcart, who had just completed a tour as Commander of the British Forces in Berlin.
The financial forecast was stark: there would be a deficit of £6,600 at end of 1975, increasing to £23,198 in 1976. This allowed 20% for inflation.
As new Commodore, Cathcart said 'with the economic situation and inflation in this country changing so fast, your Committee has decided on two courses of action to enable both the Committee and the Club to react and take counter measures more quickly to these fast changing conditions. He had set up a small Finance Sub-Committee to watch cash flow and help the Secretary; and he proposed amending the rules to let the Club make important decisions twice rather than just once a year.
When Lord Cathcart retired as Commodore, Major General Sir Robert Pigot, his Vice Commodore since 1977, eloquently reminded Members of the trying times they had come through: 'Your term of office has, indeed, been an eventful one. No one knows better than I what problems and worries you have had to contend with and the enormous amount of work these have involved you in continuously, in and out of Meetings. Our experimental Election of Candidates by Committee placed a load on you personally which can seldom, if ever, have been experienced by any of your predecessors. The continuing problems of inflation have made the management of the Squadron precarious - perhaps as never before - and it is a measure of your leadership and wisdom that you are shortly relinquishing the post of Commodore at a time when the Club is in a far better state all round than we had dared to hope for.