Name Sir McEwen, Parents Robert Finnie McEwen Role Scottish Politician Children Roderick McEwen | Died April 19, 1962, Marchmont | |
Education | ||
Grandchildren Christabel Mary McEwen | ||
Sir John Helias Finnie McEwen, 1st Baronet or Jock McEwen (21 June 1894 – 19 April 1962), was a Scottish Unionist politician who served in the House of Commons as Conservative Member of Parliament for Berwick and Haddington from 1931 until 1945.
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Early life
Sir John McEwen was the son of Robert Finnie McEwen (1861-) of Marchmont, Berwickshire, and Bardrochat, F.S.A.Scot., Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for Berwickshire, by Mary Frances, daughter of R.H.D. Dundas. His sister, Katherine Isobel McEwen, married Roger Lumley, 11th Earl of Scarbrough on 12 July 1922 at St Margaret's, Westminster and had five children with him.
He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Career
During the First World War, he served in the Cameron Highlanders, being promoted Captain in 1915. He transferred to the Royal Army Flying Corps and was later a prisoner of war. After the war he joined the Diplomatic Service, and in 1920, was 3rd Secretary; 2nd Secretary in 1925, serving in the London Foreign Office, Athens and Rome.
In the 1929 General Election, he contested the seat of Berwick-upon-Tweed and Haddington for the Unionist Party, but failed. However two years later he was elected to the House of Commons as Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Berwick and Haddington at the 1931 general election, and held the seat until 1945, when his attempt to be reelected failed.
McEwan served under Neville Chamberlain as Assistant Government Whip 1938-39, Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from 1939 to 1940, and under Winston Churchill as a Lord of the Treasury from 1942 to 1944. He was Chairman of the Conservative Members' Committee in the House of Commons December 1944 - June 1945.
Peerage
In 1953, he was created a Baronet, of Marchmont in the County of Berwick and Bardrochat in the County of Ayr. Upon his death in 1962, his title passed to his eldest son, Sir James. Upon Sir James' death in 1971, his title passed to his brother and Sir John's second son, Sir Robert, as Sir James had three daughters, but no sons.
Personal life
In 1923, McEwen married Brigid Mary Lindley (d. 1971), daughter of Sir Francis Oswald Lindley (1872–1950), the British dipolomat, and granddaughter of botanist and illustrator John Lindley, who in 1840 was instrumental in saving The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew from destruction. The raised their family at Marchmont House on the east side of the small town of Greenlaw, Scotland. Together they had seven children, including:
He died in April 1962, aged 67, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son James.