The Right Honourable The Lord Mackie of Benshie CBE DSO DFC |
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Born |
George Yull Mackie 10 July 1919 Tarves |
Died | 19 February 2015 Dundee |
(aged 95)
Cause of death | Stroke |
Nationality | Scottish |
Citizenship | Scotland |
Occupation | Farmer RAF navigator Businessman Liberal |
Notable work | Flying Farming Politics - a liberal life (2004) |
Home town | Tarves |
Political party | Scottish Liberal Party |
Spouse(s) | Lindsay Sharp (1944-1985) Deceased Jacqueline Lane (1988) Widowed |
Children | Lindsay Jeannie Diana |
Parent(s) | Maitland Mackie (father) Mary (mother) |
Military career | |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/branch | Royal Air Force (RAF) |
Years of service | 1939 - 1945 |
Rank | Navigator/Observer |
Unit |
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Commands held | Officers’ Squadron at Brackla |
Battles/wars | World War II (WWII) |
Awards | |
Member of the United Kingdom Parliament for Caithness and Sutherland |
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In office October 15, 1964 – March 31, 1966 |
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Preceded by | Sir David Robertson |
Succeeded by | Robert Maclennan |
Personal details | |
Nationality | British |
Political party | Liberal |
George Yull Mackie, Baron Mackie of Benshie CBE DSODFC (10 July 1919 – 17 February 2015) was a Scottish Liberal Party politician.
After World War II in which he served as a decorated airman with RAF Bomber Command, Mackie took over a farm at Benshie, Angus, and subsequently set up a cattle ranch at Braeroy, Inverness-shire, near Spean Bridge. Having first contested South Angus in 1959, he was elected Member of Parliament for Caithness and Sutherland in 1964. In the Commons he served as Scottish Liberal whip. He lost his seat in 1966, when he was defeated by Labour candidate Robert Maclennan. Maclennan eventually became a senior Social Democrat Party/Liberal Democrat politician in the 1980s. Mackie contested Caithness and Sutherland again in 1970, but lost by a wider margin.
Having been appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1971, he was given a life peerage, as Baron Mackie of Benshie, of Kirriemuir in the County of Angus on 10 May 1974. In the House of Lords, he served as Agriculture and Scottish Affairs spokesman for the Liberals and their successor parties between 1975 and 2000. Having been Chair of the Scottish Liberal Party from 1965 to 1970, he was its President between 1983 and 1988. In 1980, he was elected to serve a term as Rector of the University of Dundee.