John Maclay, 1st Viscount Muirshiel

John Scott Maclay, 1st Viscount Muirshiel, KT, CH, CMG, PC, DL (26 October 1905 – 17 August 1992) was a British politician, sitting as a National Liberal and Conservative Member of Parliament before the party was fully assimilated into the Unionist Party in Scotland in the mid 1960s.[1]

The Right Honourable The Viscount Muirshiel KT CH CMG PC DL
1962 portrait of Maclay by Herbert James Gunn.
Secretary of State for Scotland
In office 13 January 1957 – 13 July 1962
Prime Minister	Harold Macmillan
Preceded by	Hon. James Stuart
Succeeded by	Michael Noble
Minister of State for the Colonies
In office 18 October 1956 – 13 January 1957
Prime Minister	Anthony Eden
Preceded by	John Hare
Succeeded by	John Drummond
Minister of Civil Aviation
In office 31 October 1951 – 7 May 1952
Prime Minister	Winston Churchill
Preceded by	David Rees-Williams
Succeeded by	Alan Lennox-Boyd
Chairman of the National Liberal Party
In office 1947–1956
Preceded by	Stanley Holmes
Succeeded by	James Duncan
Member of Parliament for West Renfrewshire
In office 23 February 1950 – 15 October 1964
Preceded by	Thomas Scollan
Succeeded by	Norman Buchan
Member of Parliament for Montrose Burghs
In office 5 July 1940 – 23 February 1950
Preceded by	Charles Kerr
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	26 October 1905
Died	17 August 1992 (aged 86)
Nationality	British
Political party	National Liberal Scottish Unionist
Spouse(s)	Betty Astley (1902–1974)
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Lord Muirshiel served as Secretary of State for Scotland from 1957 to 1962 within Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, having held a number of junior ministerial posts beforehand. In 1964, he was elevated to the House of Lords.

Background and education

Maclay was the fifth son of Joseph Paton Maclay, 1st Baron Maclay, and the younger brother of Joseph Maclay, 2nd Baron Maclay.[2] He was educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge, and was bowman in the victorious Cambridge boat in the 1927 Boat Race. At Cambridge, he was also a member of the University Pitt Club.[3]

Political career

In 1940 Maclay was elected in a wartime by-election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Montrose Burghs.[4] During the Second World War, he led the British Merchant shipping Mission to Washington, D.C., leading to his appointment to the Order of St Michael and St George as a Companion (CMG) in the 1944 Birthday Honours.[5] In 1945 he briefly served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Production. He retained his Montrose seat at the 1945 general election.[6] During the 1945 to 1951 Labour government, he led the National Liberals in the House of Commons. The Montrose Burghs constituency was abolished for the 1950 general election, and Maclay was instead returned for West Renfrewshire,[7] a seat he held until 1964. He served under Winston Churchill as Minister of Civil Aviation and Minister of Transport between October 1951 and May 1952. In 1952 he was admitted to the Privy Council.

Maclay remained out of office until October 1956 when he was appointed Minister of State for the Colonies by Sir Anthony Eden. When Harold Macmillan became Prime Minister in January 1957, he was made Secretary of State for Scotland with a seat in the cabinet. He continued in this post until July 1962, when he was a victim of the "Night of the Long Knives", when one-third of the Cabinet lost their ministries. In 1964 Maclay was raised to the peerage as Viscount Muirshiel, of Kilmacolm in the County of Renfrew.[8] He had been made a Companion of Honour in 1962[9] and was made a Knight of the Thistle in 1973.[10] From 1967 to 1980 he served as Lord-Lieutenant of Renfrewshire.

Personal life

Lord Muirshiel married Betty, daughter of Delaval Graham L'Estrange Astley, in 1930. The marriage was childless. She died in June 1974, aged 71. Lord Muirshiel remained a widower until his death in August 1992, aged 86. The viscountcy died with him.[2] He is buried alongside a number of family members including the Barons Maclay in the Mount Zion Church graveyard in Quarrier's Village near Kilmacolm in his former West Renfrewshire constituency.

See also

• List of Cambridge University Boat Race crews

References

1. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-viscount-muirshiel-1541565.html
2. thepeerage.com John Scott Maclay, 1st Viscount Muirshiel
3. Fletcher, Walter Morley (2011) [1935]. The University Pitt Club: 1835-1935 (First Paperback ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-107-60006-5.
4. "No. 34892". The London Gazette. 9 July 1940. p. 4170.
5. "No. 36544". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1944. p. 2569.
6. "No. 37238". The London Gazette. 24 August 1945. p. 4296.
7. "No. 38851". The London Gazette. 28 February 1950. p. 1044.
8. "No. 43383". The London Gazette. 17 July 1964. p. 6097.
9. "No. 42736". The London Gazette. 20 July 1962. p. 5807.
10. "No. 45963". The London Gazette. 27 April 1973. p. 5331.

• Torrance, David, The Scottish Secretaries (Birlinn 2006)

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Maclay

Party political offices
Preceded by Stanley Holmes	Chairman of the National Liberal Party 1947–1956	Succeeded by James Duncan
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Charles Kerr	Member of Parliament for Montrose Burghs 1940–1950	Constituency abolished
Preceded by Thomas Scollan	Member of Parliament for West Renfrewshire 1950–1964	Succeeded by Norman Buchan
Political offices
Preceded by Alfred Barnes	Minister of Transport 1951–1952	Succeeded by Alan Lennox-Boyd
Preceded by The Lord Ogmore	Minister of Civil Aviation 1951–1952
Preceded by Hon. John Hare	Minister of State for the Colonies 1956–1957	Succeeded by The Earl of Perth
Preceded by Hon. James Stuart	Secretary of State for Scotland 1957–1962	Succeeded by Michael Noble
Honorary titles
Preceded by Sir Walter Shaw-Stewart, Bt	Lord-Lieutenant of Renfrewshire 1957–1962	Succeeded by David Makgill-Crichton-Maitland
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Viscount Muirshiel 1964–1992	Extinct