William John St Clair Anstruther-Gray, Baron Kilmany, MC PC (5 March 1905 – 6 August 1985) was a Scottish Unionist Party politician.
Background
The only son of Col William Anstruther-Gray of Kilmany and Clayre Jessie Tennant, he was born in Cupar, Fife, Scotland, and was educated at Eton College and at Christ Church, Oxford.[1]
Military service
He served as a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards from 1926 to 1930, and with the Shanghai Defence Force in 1927–28.[1]
In September 1939, he rejoined the Coldstream Guards and served in North Africa, France and Germany with Coldstream Guards and Lothians and Border Horse. He was promoted to the rank of Major in 1942. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1943.[1]
Political career
He was elected as Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) for North Lanarkshire, in Scotland, in 1931, holding the seat until 1945.[1] Until September 1939, he served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and to Secretary for Overseas Trade, and latterly to Sir John Colville, Secretary of State for Scotland.[1]
He served as Assistant Postmaster-General from May–July 1945.[1] He contested Berwick and East Lothian in February 1950, and was elected for the seat in 1951, holding it until 1966. He was Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons from 1962 to 1964 (having been Deputy Chairman from 1959 to 1962).[1] He was Chairman of the 1922 Committee from 1964 to 1966.[1]
He was appointed Deputy lieutenant of Fife in 1953, and Lord Lieutenant of Fife from 1975[2] to 1980. He was also the Crown nominee for Scotland on the General Medical Council from 1952 to 1965.
He was created a baronet in 1956,[3] appointed a Privy Counsellor in the 1962 Birthday Honours.[4]
On his defeat in the 1966 election, he was created a life peer as Baron Kilmany, of Kilmany in the County of Fife.[5]
Family
In 1934, Anstruther-Gray married Monica Helen Lambton, only child of Geoffrey Lambton, second son of Frederick Lambton, 4th Earl of Durham. They had two children.[1]
On 22 July 1985, Anstruther-Gray collapsed in the Lords chamber, and died in Westminster Hospital on 6 August, aged 80.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Crawson, N. J. (2004). "Gray, William John St Clair Anstruther-, Baron Kilmany (1905–1985), politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/64629. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "No. 19599". The Edinburgh Gazette. 17 January 1975. p. 55.
- ^ "No. 40824". The London Gazette. 6 July 1956. p. 3948.
- ^ "No. 42683". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 May 1962. p. 4307.
- ^ "No. 44003". The London Gazette. 3 June 1966. p. 6457.
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Anstruther-Gray
- British Army Officers 1939–1945
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