Hugh Pattison Macmillan, Baron Macmillan,GCVO,PC(20 February 1873 – 5 September 1952) was a Scottish advocate, judge, parliamentarian and civil servant.[1]
The Lord Macmillan | |
|---|---|
 Macmillan in 1924 | |
| Lord of Appeal in Ordinary | |
| Minister of Information | |
| In office 1939–1940 | |
| Lord Advocate | |
| In office 1924–1924 | |
Life
editHe was born inGlasgow,the son of theRev Hugh MacmillanDDFRSE(1833-1903) and Jane Patison (1833-1922). His father was minister of St Peter's Free Church in Glasgow. The family moved to 70 Union Street inGreenockin 1878.[2]
Hugh was educated at Collegiate School,Greenockfrom 1878, then studied at theUniversity of Edinburgh(M.A. 1st class honours in philosophy, 1893 Bruce of Grangehill and Falkland Scholarship[3]) and theUniversity of Glasgow(LLB).[1]He was indentured for three years to the firm Cowan, Fraser and Clapperton while he studied the Law,[4]in which he distinguished himself by winning the Cunningham Scholarship for Conveyancing in the year 1896.[5]He was admitted to theFaculty of Advocatesin 1897 with a public defence of an assigned ThesisDe diversis regulis juris antiqui,[6]and later becameKing's Counselin 1912.[1][7]For a time he wrote articles on conveyancing for Green'sEncyclopedia of Scots Law,[5]and was Editor of the quarterlyJuridical Reviewbetween 1900 and 1907.[8]
During theFirst World WarMacmillan served as assistant director of Intelligence for the Ministry of Information.[9]
Macmillan suffered an illness, and surgery thereon, in 1917, at which time he decided to cease his nascent political career (then in abeyance for the duration of theGreat War). In October 1922, he was asked byBonar Lawto become the Solicitor-General for Scotland, which he declined because of his political stripe.[10]
In 1923 he was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh.His proposers wereEdward Theodore Salvesen(Lord Salvesen),William Archer Tait,Robert Blyth Greigand SirEdmund Taylor Whittaker.He resigned from the Society in 1931.[11]
When the Labour government ofRamsay MacDonaldwas elected in 1924 – the first time theLabour Partyhad taken power – it had noKCsin Scotland amongst its parliamentary representation. Macdonald therefore turned to Macmillan, whose reputation at the Bar was considerable, to take the job ofLord Advocate,even though he was aConservative.He served as Lord Advocate from February[12]to November 1924,[13]and was sworn of thePrivy Councilon 16 April that year.[14]
Macmillan was standing counsel for a vast array of clients, that included the Dominion ofCanadafrom 1928, and for the Commonwealth ofAustraliafrom 1929.[15]He chaired in 1924 the Royal Commission on Lunacy and Mental Health,[16]in 1929 the Committee on Finance and Industry, and in 1932 the Committee on Income Tax Codification.[17]
On 3 February 1930, he was appointed to replaceLord Sumneras aLord of Appeal in Ordinary,[18]and was simultaneously created alife peerasBaron MacmillanofAberfeldyin theCounty of Perth,[19]one of few men to have been appointed a judge in theHouse of Lordsstraight from the Bar.[13]Macmillan sat as aLaw Lorduntil 1947 except for a brief period at the outbreak ofSecond World Warwhen he wasMinister of Information.[20]However he came in for much criticism in this role and was soon replaced. The Ministry of Information was located in theSenate House,University of London,and theMacmillan Hallthere is named after him.
Macmillan produced some 152 judgments in the House of Lords, and some 77 in theJudicial Committee of the Privy Council.[20]
He held a number of chairmanships, including theCommittee on Finance and Industryin 1929–31, the CanadianRoyal Commission on Banking and Currencyin 1933, thePilgrim Trustfrom 1935 to 1952, thePolitical Honours Committeefrom 1935 to 1952, the Court of theUniversity of Londonfrom 1929 to 1943, and theBBCAdvisory Council from 1936 to 1946. He was a member of theWytham AbbeyTrust, founded by ColonelRaymond ffennell.[21]He was elected Trustee of theBritish Museum,[22]and was in 1934 principal proponent and founder of theStair Society,which was designed "to encourage the study and advance the knowledge of the history of Scots Law by the publication of original documents and by the reprinting and editing of works of sufficient rarity or importance."[23]
Macmillan led, over the course of a decade to 7 August 1925, the effort to create theNational Library of Scotland;the Committee which he chaired was noticed byAlexander Grant,head ofMcVitie and Pricebiscuit makers, who donated the bulk of the endowment[24]This happy event culminated with the passage at Westminster of theNational Library of Scotland Act 1925(15 & 16 Geo. 5.c. 73).[25]
He provided the 1934 Rede Lecture at Cambridge, the 1934 Maudsley Lecture, the 1935 Henry Sidgwick Memorial Lecture, and in 1936 a Broadcast National Lecture. These were bound asLaw and Other Things.He was appointed in 1941 to the Professorship of Law at the Royal Academy of Arts, and was chosen an Honorary Member by theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.In 1948 he became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He delivered the Andrew Lang Memorial Lecture, and the Commemorative Oration at the University of Glasgow's 500th anniversary in 1951.[26]
He was appointed aPrivy Counsellorin 1924 and was awarded theGCVOin 1937.[13]He would earn the distinction of LLD from his twoalma matres,[27]Edinburgh on 17 July 1924.,[28]again in 1931 at the University of London,[29]and again in 1932 at the University of St. Andrews.[30]In North America, he was awarded LLDs fromMcGill University,Queen's University at Kingston,Dalhousie UniversityandColumbia University,and a DCL fromCase Western Reserve University,as well as being inducted into theOrder of the Coif.
He was unanimously elected 13 May 1924 the first Honorary Bencher ofInner Temple.[31]He was elected honorary member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, of theSmeatonian Society of Civil Engineers,and of the Institution of Municipal and County Engineers.[32]
Family
editHe married his childhood sweetheart, Elizabeth Katherine Grace Marshall,[33]on 27 July 1901.[34]
Publications
editHis autobiography,A Man of Law's Tale,was published in 1952.
Cases and Bills noted
editA Man of Law's Tale
edit- Corporation of the City of Glasgow v Stirling County Council et al. (1914): G desired to impound river waters in Loch Voil
- Williamson(?) et al. v Corporation of Aberdeen (1910): A desired to divert the River Avon for public use
- City of Glasgow v County Council of Lanark et al. (May–July 1912): G desired to extinguish L
- Falkirk v County Council of Stirling (1911): F desired to encroach on S
- Falkirk v County Council of Stirling (1912): F desired to encroach on S
- Corporation of Dundee v Burgh of Broughty Ferry (1913): D desired to encroach on B
- Corporation of Edinburgh v burgh of Leith (1920): E desired to encroach on L
- Corporation of Greenock v Ports of Glasgow and Gourock (1927): G desired to incorporate GG
- Sandwich Port and Haven Bill (1925)
- River Ouse Drainage Bill (1927)
- Bill for the reconstitution of Albert Hall
- Lochaber Water Power Bill (1921)
- Road Transport Act 1928
- Mortensen v Peters, 1906, 8F(JC)93; 5Adam121: international and territorial waters
- R v Brown, 1907SC(J)67, 5Adam312: B contested lunacy
- Coats v Brown, 1909 SC(J)29, 6Adam19
- Parker v Lord Advocate [1904] AC364, 6F(HL)37
- Colquhoun v FPW 1908 SC(HL)10
- Boyd&Forrest v GSWRC 1912 SC(HL)93, 1915 SC(H)20, 1918 SC(HL)14
- Lord Advocate v Zetland 1920 SC(HL)1
- Young v Kinloch 1911 SC(HL)1
- Wishart v Gibson 1914 SC(HL)53
- Canada v Newfoundland 1927
- 1930 AC 537
- Donoghue v Stevenson1932 AC 562
- Fibrosa Spolka Akcyjna v Fairbairn Lawson Combe Barbour Ltd1942 AC 32
- Bank of Portugal v Waterlow & Sons 1932 AC452
- Joyce v DPP 1946 AC347
Legacy
editThe Lord Macmillan Papers are housed at theBritish Library.The papers can be accessed through the British Library catalogue.[35]
Notes
edit- ^abcPine, p.187
- ^Greenock Post Office Directories 1878-9
- ^Macmillan, p.18
- ^Macmillan, p.22
- ^abMacmillan, p.23
- ^Macmillan, p.30
- ^"No. 28605".The London Gazette.7 May 1912. p. 3280.
- ^Macmillan, p.42
- ^Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002(PDF).The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006.ISBN0 902 198 84 X.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 March 2016.Retrieved30 July2017.
- ^Macmillan, p.80
- ^Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002(PDF).The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006.ISBN0 902 198 84 X.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 March 2016.Retrieved30 July2017.
- ^"No. 13996".The Edinburgh Gazette.12 February 1924. p. 225.
- ^abcPine, p.188
- ^Macmillan, p.84
- ^Macmillan, p.140
- ^Macmillan, p.184
- ^Macmillan, p.100
- ^Macmillan, p.141
- ^"No. 33576".The London Gazette.4 February 1930. p. 719.
- ^abMacmillan, p.147
- ^Macmillan, p.296
- ^Macmillan, p.156
- ^Macmillan, p.214
- ^Macmillan, p.238-45
- ^legislation.gov.uk: "National Library of Scotland Act 1925"
- ^Macmillan, p.160-2
- ^Macmillan, p.24
- ^Macmillan, p.94
- ^Macmillan, p.278
- ^Macmillan, p.286
- ^Macmillan, p.96
- ^Macmillan, p.65-6
- ^Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002(PDF).The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006.ISBN0 902 198 84 X.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 March 2016.Retrieved30 July2017.
- ^Macmillan, p. 43
- ^Lord Macmillan Papers,archives and manuscripts catalogue, the British Library. Retrieved 2 June 2020
References and Bibliography
edit- A.H.B. Constable and H.P. Macmillan,A Treatise on Provisional Orders applicable to Scotland,Edinburgh, 1900
- H.P. Macmillan,A Man of Law's Tale,London: MacMillan and Co., 1952
- H.P. Macmillan,Law and other things
- L. G. Pine,The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms(London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972).