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John Scott Maclay, 1st Viscount Muirshiel

The Right Honourable
The Viscount Muirshiel
KT CH CMG PC DL
John Scott Maclay.jpg
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

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 early 1960s.

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.

Maclay was the fifth son of Joseph Paton Maclay, 1st Baron Maclay, and the younger brother of Joseph Maclay, 2nd Baron Maclay. 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.

In 1940 Maclay was elected in a wartime by-election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Montrose Burghs. 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. In 1945 he briefly served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Production. He retained his Montrose seat at the 1945 general election. 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, 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.


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