Alick Laidlaw Buchanan-Smith (8 April 1932 - 29 August 1991) was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 and Unionist

Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party is the part of the British Conservative Party that operates in Scotland. Like the UK party, it has a centre-right political philosophy which promotes conservatism and strong British Unionism...

 politician.

The second son of Alick Drummond Buchanan-Smith, Baron Balerno and Mary Kathleen Smith, he was educated at Edinburgh Academy

Edinburgh Academy

The Edinburgh Academy is an independent school which was opened in 1824. The original building, in Henderson Row on the northern fringe of the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, is now part of the Senior School...

, Glenalmond College

Glenalmond College

Glenalmond College is a co-educational independent boarding school in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for children aged between 12 and 18 years. It is situated on the River Almond near the village of Methven, about west of the city of Perth. The school's motto is Floreat Glenalmond...

, Pembroke College, Cambridge

Pembroke College, Cambridge

Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...

 and University of Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

. He was commissioned into the Gordon Highlanders and did his National Service

National service

National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...

 from 1951.

He was unsuccessful parliamentary candidate for West Fife in 1959, and sat as member for North Angus and Mearns

North Angus and Mearns (UK Parliament constituency)

Angus North and Mearns, Scotland, was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1983...

 from 1964 to 1983 and for Kincardine and Deeside

Kincardine and Deeside (UK Parliament constituency)

Kincardine and Deeside was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 until 1997. It was mainly replaced by West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, apart from the parts of the seat within the borders of Aberdeen City Council, which joined...

 from 1983 until his death.

He was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland

Under-Secretary of State for Scotland

The Under-Secretary of State for Scotland is a junior ministerial post in the United Kingdom government, supporting the Secretary of State for Scotland...

 from 1970–74, Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1979–83, and Minister of State for Energy from 1983-87. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor

Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...

in 1981.