Monarch George VI
Elizabeth II Died February 20, 1971 Preceded by Hector McNeil Education Eton College | Nationality British Political party Unionist Party Name James 1st | |
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Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Sir Anthony Eden Born 9 February 1897
Edinburgh, Scotland ( 1897-02-09 ) Spouse Rachel Cavendish (m. 1923) Succeeded by John Maclay, 1st Viscount Muirshiel | ||
Captain James Gray Stuart, 1st Viscount Stuart of Findhorn, (9 February 1897 – 20 February 1971), styled The Honourable James Stuart between 1909 and 1957, was a Scottish Unionist politician. He was joint-Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury in Winston Churchill's war-time coalition government and later served as Secretary of State for Scotland under Churchill and then Sir Anthony Eden from 1951 to 1957. The latter year he was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Stuart of Findhorn.
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Background
Born in Edinburgh, Stuart was the third and youngest son of Morton Stuart, 17th Earl of Moray, and Edith Douglas Palmer, daughter of Rear-Admiral George Palmer.
Military service
Stuart was commissioned into the Royal Scots (Special Reserve) and served in the First World War, reaching the rank of Captain. He was awarded the Military Cross and Bar in 1917.
Political career
Stuart sat as Member of Parliament (MP) for Moray and Nairn from 1923 to 1959. He served as a Lord of the Treasury from 1935 to 1941 under successively Ramsay Macdonald, Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1939. In 1941 Churchill promoted him to joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Government Chief Whip), which he remained until 1945. He continued as Conservative Chief Whip until 1948. In 1950 he became Chairman of the Scottish Unionist Party, a post he held until 1962.
When the Conservatives returned to power under Churchill in 1951, Stuart was made Secretary of State for Scotland, with a seat in the cabinet. He continued in this post until 1957, the last two years under the premiership of Sir Anthony Eden. He was appointed a Companion of Honour in 1957. On 20 November 1959 he was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Stuart of Findhorn, of Findhorn in the County of Moray.
Family
Lord Stuart of Findhorn married Lady Rachel Cavendish, daughter of Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire (and sister of Dorothy Cavendish, wife of Harold Macmillan), in 1923. He had earlier been noted as a suitor of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon while serving as an equerry to Prince Albert, Duke of York (the future King George VI). Lord and Lady Stuart had two sons and one daughter. Stuart died in February 1971, aged 74, and was succeeded in the viscountcy by his eldest son, David. Lady Stuart of Findhorn died in October 1977.