James Stuart, 1st Viscount Stuart of Findhorn

The Right Honourable The Viscount Stuart of Findhorn CH MVO MC* PC
Photograph of Stuart by Walter Stoneman, taken August 1943.
Secretary of State for Scotland
In office 30 October 1951 – 9 January 1957
Monarch	George VI Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Winston Churchill Sir Anthony Eden
Preceded by	Hector McNeil
Succeeded by	John Maclay
Personal details
Born	(1897-02-09)9 February 1897 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	20 February 1971(1971-02-20) (aged 74)
Nationality	British
Political party	Unionist
Spouse(s)	Lady Rachel Cavendish

Captain James Gray Stuart, 1st Viscount Stuart of Findhorn CH MVO MC* PC (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.

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.^[1] 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.

References

• Torrance, David, The Scottish Secretaries (Birlinn 2006)
• Stuart, James; Viscount Stuart of Findhorn. Within the Fringe: An Autobiography

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Viscount Stuart of Findhorn

Secretaries of State for Scotland
Scotland Office
Secretary of State for Scotland 1707–1746	Mar Queensberry Mar Montrose Roxburghe Vacant Tweeddale
Secretary for Scotland 1885–1926	Richmond Trevelyan Dalhousie Balfour Lothian Trevelyan Balfour of Burleigh Murray Linlithgow Sinclair (Pentland_ McKinnon-Wood Tennant Munro Novar Adamson Gilmour
Secretary of State for Scotland 1926–1999	Gilmour Adamson Sinclair Collins Elliot Colville Brown Johnston Rosebery Westwood Woodburn McNeil Stuart Maclay Noble Ross Campbell Ross Millan Younger Rifkind Lang Forsyth Dewar
Secretary of State for Scotland 1999–present	Reid Liddell Darling* Alexander* Browne** Murphy Alexander Moore Carmichael Mundell
*Also Secretary of State for Transport; **Secretary of State for Defence

Cabinet of Sir Winston Churchill (1951–1955)
Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Sir Winston Churchill (1951–55) Lord Chancellor The Lord Simonds (1951–54) The Viscount Kilmuir (1954–55) Lord President of the Council The Lord Woolton (1951–52) The Marquess of Salisbury (1952–55) Lord Privy Seal The Marquess of Salisbury (1951–52) Harry Crookshank (1952–55) Chancellor of the Exchequer Rab Butler (1951–55) Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden (1951–55) Home Secretary Welsh Secretary Sir David Maxwell Fyfe (1951–54) Gwilym Lloyd George (1954–55) Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Derick Heathcoat-Armory (1954–55) Secretary of State for the Colonies Oliver Lyttelton (1951–54) Alan Lennox-Boyd (1954–55) Minister for Coordination of Transport, Fuel and Power The Lord Leathers (1951–53) Minister of Defence Winston Churchill (1951–52) The Earl Alexander of Tunis (1952–54) Harold Macmillan (1954–55) Minister of Education Sir David Eccles (1954–55) Minister of Health Harry Crookshank (1951–52) Ministry of Housing and Local Government Harold Macmillan (1951–54) Duncan Sandys (1954–55) Minister of Labour and National Service Sir Walter Monckton (1951–55) Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The Lord Woolton (1952–55) Minister of Materials The Lord Woolton (1953–55) Paymaster General The Lord Cherwell (1951–53) Secretary of State for Scotland James Stuart (1951–55)