Events

The region is a mixture of urban and rural areas stretching from Dumbarton in the north down the coast taking in Helensburgh, Clydebank, Greenock and Arran. Inland it encompasses Paisley and stretches across to Milngavie and Bearsden.

Clydebank and Greenock were areas once synonymous with shipbuilding. David Kirkwood (1872-1955), who served as the Labour MP for Dumbarton District of Burghs, 1922-1950, and Dunbartonshire East, 1950-1951, trained as an engineer on Clydeside. He was one of the labour leaders charged with inciting a riot in the famous clashes in Glasgow’s George Square in 1919, though he was found not guilty. In 1924 he promoted a bill to have the Stone of Destiny restored to Scotland. As an MP he was instrumental in gaining government financial support for the completion of work on the liner the Queen Mary on the Clyde in 1933.

Personalities

Conservatives

Alexander MacRobert (1873-1930), MP for East Renfrewshire 1924-1930 was also Solicitor-General for Scotland, December 1925-April 1929 and Lord Advocate April- June 1929.

Douglas Douglas-Hamilton (1903-1973), (later 14^th Duke of Hamilton and father of Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, Conservative MSP for Lothians), was MP for East Renfrewshire from 1930-1940.

John Maclay (1905-1992) the National Liberal and Conservative MP for West Renfrewshire from 1950-1964 served as Secretary of State for Scotland from 1957-1962.

Labour

Oliver Baldwin (1899-1969) was MP for Paisley from 1945 until December 1947 when he succeeded his father, the former Conservative Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, as Earl Baldwin of Bewdley.

Hector McNeil (1907-1955) MP for Greenock from 1941-1955 was Secretary of State for Scotland 1950-1951.

John Robertson (1913-1987) was MP for Paisley from 1961-1979. He served until 1976 as a Labour member but in that year he broke from the party to start, together with Jim Sillars, the Scottish Labour Party which lasted for three years.

Liberal

Robert Wallace (1773-1855) MP for Greenock 1832-1846, was responsible for the reform of the postal service and the introduction of the penny post. He applied for a royal commission to be appointed in 1836 to report on the state of the posting department. Wallace was also chairman of the committee given the responsibility of examining Rowland Hill’s penny postage scheme and it was his casting vote that recommended the scheme to Parliament.

Alexander Colquohoun-Stirling-Murray-Dunlop (1798-1870) MP for Greenock 1852-1868, was responsible for the legislation that put an end to Gretna Green marriages. He was also responsible for an act to render reformatories and industrial schools more available to vagrant and destitute children which became known as Dunlop’s Act.

Herbert Henry Asquith (1852-1928) the former Prime Minister was returned as the MP for Greenock in a by-election in 1920 and served for the next four years.

Sir Godfrey Collins (1875-1936), MP for Greenock from 1910-1936 was Secretary of State for Scotland 1932-1936.

Another Prime Ministerial connection for the region was William Gladstone (1885-1915) MP for the Kilmarnock District of Burghs from 1911-1915, and the grandson of Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone.

Scottish Nationalists

The region has returned only one member of the SNP to the UK Parliament. From 1974 –1979 Margaret Bain (now Margaret Ewing, MSP and MP for Moray) served as MP for East Dunbartonshire.

Bibliography

http://www.snp.org.uk/library/rr95100a.html

Brack, Duncan (editor) Dictionary of Liberal biography (London: Politico’s Publishing, 1998)

Devine, T.M. The Scottish nation 1700-2000. (London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 1999).

Dictionary of national biography on CD-ROM. Version 1.1. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998)

Englefield, Dermot, Seaton, Janet and White, Isobel Facts about the British Prime Ministers: a compilation of biographical and historical information (London: Mansell, 1995)

Keay, John and Keay, Julia [editors] Collins encyclopaedia of Scotland (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994)

Knox, W.W. Industrial nation: work, culture and society in Scotland: 1800-present. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999)

Smout, T.C. A century of the Scottish people 1830-1950 (London: Fontana Press, 1997).

Who’s who 1897-1998. CD-ROM version 1.1. (London: A&C Black, 1998).

Francesca McGrath
SPICe