James Duncan Millar
Encyclopedia
James Duncan Millar was a Scottish barrister
and Liberal
, later National Liberal
politician.
. He had family connections to Duncan McLaren
a former Edinburgh Member of Parliament
(MP) and to the famous Liberal John Bright
. His maternal grandfather was James Duncan who was a member of The Society of Writers to the Signet
the Edinburgh legal association. He was educated at Edinburgh University where he obtained an MA degree
and a Bachelor of Laws
(LLB). In 1906 he married Ella Forester-Paton of Alloa
. They had one son and one daughter. Their son, Ian A Duncan Millar, a Perthshire farmer, stood as Liberal candidate in the Kinross and West Perthshire by-election
in 1963 at which Alec Douglas-Home
was returned to the House of Commons, coming second to Home.
in Edinburgh in 1896 and in the following year was called to the English Bar at the Middle Temple
. He obtained a large practice in Scotland and was Senior Advocate Depute from 1913-1916.
at the general election of January 1910 when he defeated the sitting Conservative
, William Anstruther-Gray
. However he lost the seat back to Anstruther-Gray at the December 1910 general election. In 1911, an opportunity arose for Millar with the resignation from Parliament of the Liberal MP for North East Lanarkshire
, Thomas Fleming Wilson and Millar was re-elected to the House of Commons at a by-election
held on 9 March 1911. He held North East Lanarkshire until 1918, when the seat was abolished. He moved to contest Motherwell
at the 1918 General Election
as the Liberal party candidate, but finished second to the Unionist in a three-way contest.
Millar did not find another seat until the 1922 general election
when he was successful at East Fife, gaining the seat from the Tories. This must have been a particularly sweet victory as the MP he defeated had taken the constituency from former Liberal leader H H Asquith in 1918, a seat Asquith had held since 1886. Millar was able to hold the seat at the 1923 general election
but lost in 1924
to the Conservative Archibald Cochrane. He won the seat back from Cochrane at the 1929 general election
albeit by the narrow margin of 581 votes
and initially supported by the Conservative and Liberal parties. However the Liberals were increasingly divided over the issue of the National Government, particularly over the policy of Free Trade
. The official party led by Sir Herbert Samuel
although agreeing to go into the 1931 general election
supporting MacDonald became increasingly alarmed about the government’s stance on Free Trade and worried about the predominance of the Conservatives in the coalition. However a group of Liberal MPs led by Sir John Simon who were concerned to ensure the National Government had a wide cross-party base formed the Liberal National Party to more openly support MacDonald’s administration. Millar was not one of the founding members of the Liberal National Party but his endorsement of the government’s programme was enough to ensure the Conservatives did not put up a candidate against him in East Fife in 1931 and on 16 October 1931, Millar found himself returned unopposed to represent East Fife in the next Parliament. He then chose to support the administration loyally and continued to describe himself as a Liberal National when the Samuelite Liberals withdrew from the coalition. He continued to enjoy the support of both the local Liberal and Conservative Associations in East Fife, with both of which organisations he had gained the reputation for being a good constituency MP, particularly in representing the interests of fishing and agriculture.
Millar died in office at the aged of 61. At the by-election
held on 2 February 1933 to fill the East Fife seat following Millar’s death, the local Liberal Association selected the Simonite James Henderson-Stewart to fight the seat. Standing as a Liberal National, Henderson-Stewart easily held the seat with a majority of 9,135 votes. He did not face Conservative opposition but there were four other candidates, including Labour
, Agricultural Party
, Independent Liberal and National Party of Scotland
.
to sit on a committee of experts to look into the spread of various diseases in Africa and how they could be controlled. Millar was knighted in the New Year’s Honours List of 1932 for political and public services.
, following a period of some weeks suffering badly with phlebitis
and complications.
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
and Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
, later National Liberal
National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)
The National Liberal Party, known until 1948 as the Liberal National Party, was a liberal political party in the United Kingdom from 1931 to 1968...
politician.
Family and education
James Duncan Millar was the son of John Millar, a medical doctor from EdinburghEdinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. He had family connections to Duncan McLaren
Duncan McLaren
Duncan McLaren was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament for Edinburgh.Born in Renton, Scotland, Duncan McLaren was the youngest of ten children of John McLaren and Catherine McLellan. Apart from two years of schooling, was self taught. After school, he was apprenticed to a merchant in Dunbar...
a former Edinburgh Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) and to the famous Liberal John Bright
John Bright
John Bright , Quaker, was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with Richard Cobden in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League. He was one of the greatest orators of his generation, and a strong critic of British foreign policy...
. His maternal grandfather was James Duncan who was a member of The Society of Writers to the Signet
Writers to the Signet
The Society of Writers to Her Majesty’s Signet is a private society of Scottish solicitors, dating back to 1594 and part of the College of Justice. Writers to the Signet originally had special privileges in relation to the drawing up of documents which required to be signeted, but these have since...
the Edinburgh legal association. He was educated at Edinburgh University where he obtained an MA degree
Master of Arts (Scotland)
A Master of Arts in Scotland can refer to an undergraduate academic degree in humanities and social sciences awarded by the ancient universities of Scotland – the University of St Andrews, the University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen and the University of Edinburgh, while the University of...
and a Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
(LLB). In 1906 he married Ella Forester-Paton of Alloa
Alloa
Alloa is a town and former burgh in Clackmannanshire, set in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on on the north bank of the Firth of Forth close to the foot of the Ochil Hills, east of Stirling and north of Falkirk....
. They had one son and one daughter. Their son, Ian A Duncan Millar, a Perthshire farmer, stood as Liberal candidate in the Kinross and West Perthshire by-election
Kinross and West Perthshire by-election, 1963
The Kinross and West Perthshire by-election of 7 November 1963 was a by-election to the House of Commons. It was unique among by-elections since 1918 in that one of the candidates was the sitting Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home; he had been nominated for the constituency after disclaiming a...
in 1963 at which Alec Douglas-Home
Alec Douglas-Home
Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT, PC , known as The Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963 and as Sir Alec Douglas-Home from 1963 to 1974, was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1963 to October 1964.He is the last...
was returned to the House of Commons, coming second to Home.
Law career
James Duncan Millar was one of the few men to become a member of both the Scottish and English Bars. He was admitted to the Faculty of AdvocatesFaculty of Advocates
The Faculty of Advocates is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary...
in Edinburgh in 1896 and in the following year was called to the English Bar at the Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
. He obtained a large practice in Scotland and was Senior Advocate Depute from 1913-1916.
Politics
Millar was elected Liberal MP for St Andrews BurghsSt Andrews Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)
St Andrews Burghs was a district of burghs constituency, representing various burghs of Fife, Scotland, in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, from 1832 to 1918.-Area covered:...
at the general election of January 1910 when he defeated the sitting 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...
, William Anstruther-Gray
William Anstruther-Gray (senior)
Lieut-Colonel William Anstruther-Gray FSA JP DL was a Scottish soldier and politician.The son of Colonel John Anstruther-Thomson of Charleton, Colinsburgh, Fife, and Maria Hamilton Gray of Carntyne, Glasgow, he was educated at Eton.He adopted name of Gray on succeeding to the Carntyne estate in...
. However he lost the seat back to Anstruther-Gray at the December 1910 general election. In 1911, an opportunity arose for Millar with the resignation from Parliament of the Liberal MP for North East Lanarkshire
North East Lanarkshire (UK Parliament constituency)
North East Lanarkshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1918. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post voting system.- Boundaries :...
, Thomas Fleming Wilson and Millar was re-elected to the House of Commons at a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
held on 9 March 1911. He held North East Lanarkshire until 1918, when the seat was abolished. He moved to contest Motherwell
Motherwell (UK Parliament constituency)
Motherwell was a burgh constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1974. It was formed by the division of Lanarkshire. The name was changed in 1974 to Motherwell and Wishaw...
at the 1918 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1918
The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did...
as the Liberal party candidate, but finished second to the Unionist in a three-way contest.
Millar did not find another seat until the 1922 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1922
The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Andrew Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by John...
when he was successful at East Fife, gaining the seat from the Tories. This must have been a particularly sweet victory as the MP he defeated had taken the constituency from former Liberal leader H H Asquith in 1918, a seat Asquith had held since 1886. Millar was able to hold the seat at the 1923 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1923
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
but lost in 1924
United Kingdom general election, 1924
- Seats summary :- References :* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* - External links :* * *...
to the Conservative Archibald Cochrane. He won the seat back from Cochrane at the 1929 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1929
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
albeit by the narrow margin of 581 votes
National Liberal
In 1931 an economic crisis led to the formation of a National Government led by Labour prime minister Ramsay MacDonaldRamsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....
and initially supported by the Conservative and Liberal parties. However the Liberals were increasingly divided over the issue of the National Government, particularly over the policy of Free Trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
. The official party led by Sir Herbert Samuel
Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel
Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel GCB OM GBE PC was a British politician and diplomat.-Early years:...
although agreeing to go into the 1931 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1931
The United Kingdom general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. It was also the last election, and the only one under universal suffrage, where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast.The 1931 general election was the...
supporting MacDonald became increasingly alarmed about the government’s stance on Free Trade and worried about the predominance of the Conservatives in the coalition. However a group of Liberal MPs led by Sir John Simon who were concerned to ensure the National Government had a wide cross-party base formed the Liberal National Party to more openly support MacDonald’s administration. Millar was not one of the founding members of the Liberal National Party but his endorsement of the government’s programme was enough to ensure the Conservatives did not put up a candidate against him in East Fife in 1931 and on 16 October 1931, Millar found himself returned unopposed to represent East Fife in the next Parliament. He then chose to support the administration loyally and continued to describe himself as a Liberal National when the Samuelite Liberals withdrew from the coalition. He continued to enjoy the support of both the local Liberal and Conservative Associations in East Fife, with both of which organisations he had gained the reputation for being a good constituency MP, particularly in representing the interests of fishing and agriculture.
Millar died in office at the aged of 61. At the by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
held on 2 February 1933 to fill the East Fife seat following Millar’s death, the local Liberal Association selected the Simonite James Henderson-Stewart to fight the seat. Standing as a Liberal National, Henderson-Stewart easily held the seat with a majority of 9,135 votes. He did not face Conservative opposition but there were four other candidates, including Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
, Agricultural Party
Agricultural Party
The Agricultural Party was a minor political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1931 the Norfolk Farmers' Party but changed its name one week after its formation...
, Independent Liberal and National Party of Scotland
National Party of Scotland
The National Party of Scotland was a political party in Scotland and a forerunner of the current Scottish National Party.The NPS was formed in 1928 after John MacCormick of the Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association called a meeting of all those favouring the establishment of a party...
.
Honours
In 1913, Millar was appointed by the Secretary of State for the ColoniesSecretary of State for the Colonies
The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various colonial dependencies....
to sit on a committee of experts to look into the spread of various diseases in Africa and how they could be controlled. Millar was knighted in the New Year’s Honours List of 1932 for political and public services.
Death
Millar died at his home, Remony Lodge, Aberfeldy in PerthshirePerthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
, following a period of some weeks suffering badly with phlebitis
Phlebitis
Phlebitis is an inflammation of a vein, usually in the legs.When phlebitis is associated with the formation of blood clots , usually in the deep veins of the legs, the condition is called thrombophlebitis...
and complications.