Preceded by Sir Robert Hamilton Service/branch British Army Name Basil Neven-Spence Education University of Edinburgh Succeeded by Jo Grimond | Allegiance United Kingdom Years of service 1911 - 1927 Role Politician Political party Unionist Party Battles and wars World War I | |
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Resting place Uyea Chapel Cemetery, Uyea, Unst Alma mater University of Edinburgh Died September 13, 1974, Edinburgh, United Kingdom Awards Order of the Nile, Military Cross, Victory Medal, British War Medal | ||
Sir Basil Hamilton Hebden Neven-Spence (12 June 1888 – 13 September 1974) was a Scottish Unionist Party politician and military physician.
Neven-Spence came from a prominent landowning family in the Shetland Islands. Neven-Spence graduated from Edinburgh University in 1911. He served with the Royal Army Medical Corps, seconded to help the Egyptian Army and government of Sudan, and in the First World War, mainly in the Middle East. He received the Order of the Nile for his role in the Darfur Expedition. Following the war he organised a campaign to treat sleeping sickness in Darfur. He returned to Edinburgh University to study for an M.D., before moving to Aldershot in 1924 to work as a specialist physician to the British Army. He retired from the Army in 1927 with the rank of Major.
Neven-Spence's family had owned property in Shetland for several generations and he became Vice-Convenor of Zetland County Council.
Neven-Spence first contested the Orkney and Shetland constituency in 1929, stepping down as candidate ahead of the 1931 election. He won in 1935 and served as Member of Parliament (MP) until losing at the 1950 general election to Jo Grimond. He was knighted in 1945 and served as a vice-Lieutenant of Scotland. He once lived on the island of Uyea.
Family
Basil St. Clair Neven-Spence, Sir Basil's son, served in the Colonial Office following serving in World War II. Basil St. Clair committed suicide at the age of 22, after having been assigned to the island of Tanna in the New Hebrides.