John Bruce-Gardyne, Baron Bruce-Gardyne (12 April 1930 – 15 April 1990) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Conservative Party

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...

 politician.

Son of Captain Evan Bruce-Gardyne

Captain Evan Bruce-Gardyne

Captain Evan Bruce-Gardyne, DSO, RN, 13th Laird of Midddeton, was a British Navy officer. He was a member of the well-known Scottish landowning family of Gardyne who have been based in the county of Angus since 1008 AD...

, DSO, RN 13th Laird of Middleton, and a member of a Scottish landholding family who have been based in the county of Angus

Angus

Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...

 since at least 1008 AD. He was born in Chertsey

Chertsey

Chertsey is a town in Surrey, England, on the River Thames and its tributary rivers such as the River Bourne. It can be accessed by road from junction 11 of the M25 London orbital motorway. It shares borders with Staines, Laleham, Shepperton, Addlestone, Woking, Thorpe and Egham...

, Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

. Bruce-Gardyne was educated at Twyford School

Twyford School

Twyford School is a co-educational, independent, preparatory boarding and day school, located in the village of Twyford, Hampshire.-History:Twyford claims to be the oldest preparatory school in the United Kingdom....

, Winchester College

Winchester College

Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...

 and Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...

, and then served for six years in Foreign Service before becoming a journalist. He was a council member of the Bow Group

Bow Group

The Bow Group is one of the oldest think tanks in the United Kingdom. Taking its name from the Bow area of London where it first met, it was founded in 1951...

.

At the 1964 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1964

The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on 15 October 1964, more than five years after the preceding election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had retaken power...

, he was elected as 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) for South Angus

South Angus (UK Parliament constituency)

Angus South was a county constituency in Scotland, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1983.- Members of Parliament :- Election results:...

 where the family seats of Gardyne Castle

Gardyne Castle

Gardyne Castle is a 16th-century tower house in Angus, Scotland. It is located south-west of Friockheim. The castle is still in use as a family home, and is protected as a Category A listed building.-History:...

, Finavon Castle

Finavon Castle

Finavon Castle lies on the River South Esk, about a quarter of a mile south of Milton of Finavon village and five miles to the north-east of Forfar in Angus, Scotland...

 and Middleton all stood. He held the seat until the October 1974 general election

United Kingdom general election, October 1974

The United Kingdom general election of October 1974 took place on 10 October 1974 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. It was the second general election of that year and resulted in the Labour Party led by Harold Wilson, winning by a tiny majority of 3 seats.The election of...

, when he lost to Andrew Welsh

Andrew Welsh (politician)

Andrew Paton Welsh is a Scottish politician. He was educated at Govan High School and Glasgow University.Andrew Welsh was the Scottish National Party Member of Parliament for the House of Commons constituencies of South Angus from 1974 to 1979, East Angus from 1987 to 1997 and Angus from 1997 to...

 of the Scottish National Party

Scottish National Party

The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....

. Bruce-Gardyne was later elected MP for Knutsford

Knutsford (UK Parliament constituency)

Knutsford was a county constituency in Cheshire which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election.- Members of Parliament :...

 in a 1979 by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

, but was effectively forced out of the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 when the seat was abolished by boundary changes for the 1983 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1983

The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...

. He was a monetarist but also was against the Falklands war

Falklands War

The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

 and was an independent-minded MP. His well-known publication, Meriden: Odyssey Of A Lame Duck virulently attacked Tony Benn

Tony Benn

Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...

's setting up of the Meriden

Meriden, West Midlands

-External links:*****...

 Workers' Co-operative to continue production of Triumph Motorcycles

Triumph Motorcycles

Triumph Engineering Co Ltd was a British motorcycle manufacturing company, based originally in Coventry and then in Solihull at Meriden. A new company, Triumph Motorcycles Ltd based in Hinckley gained the name rights after the end of the company in the 1980s and is now one of the world's major...

. He was succeeded in the new Tatton

Tatton (UK Parliament constituency)

- Elections in the 1990s :- Elections in the 1980s :- Sources :* Data for the 2005 election are from the .* Data for the 2001 election are from http://www.election.demon.co.uk/....

 seat by Neil Hamilton

Neil Hamilton (politician)

Mostyn Neil Hamilton is a former British barrister, teacher and Conservative MP. Since losing his seat in 1997 and leaving politics, Hamilton and his wife Christine have become media celebrities...

. He was created a life peer

Life peer

In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...

 as Baron Bruce-Gardyne, of Kirkden in the District of Angus, on 7 October 1983.

He married Sally Louisa Mary Maitland daughter of Commander Sir John Maitland

John Maitland (Conservative politician)

Sir John Francis Whitaker Maitland was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. In the 1945 general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament for the safe Conservative seat of Horncastle in Lincolnshire...

 in 1959. He died of a brain tumour in Kensington and Chelsea

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is a central London borough of Royal borough status. After the City of Westminster, it is the wealthiest borough in England....

at the age of 60.