Douglas Harold Johnston, Lord Johnston, TD (1 February 1907 – 18 February 1985) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

, politician and Judge. He served as a Minister in the government of

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...

and ended his career as a Senator of the

College of Justice The College of Justice includes the Supreme Courts of Scotland, and its associated bodies. The constituent bodies of the national supreme courts are the Court of Session, the High Court of Justiciary, the Office of the Accountant of Court, an ...

. Johnston took the legal title Lord Johnston.

Education

Johnston's father Joseph was also an Advocate; he was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and educated at

Aberdeen Grammar School Aberdeen Grammar School is a state secondary school in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of thirteen secondary schools run by the Aberdeen City Council educational department. It is the oldest school in the city and one of the oldest grammar school ...

. He then went on to St John's College,

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followed by the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

at both of which he studied law. He was called to the Bar in England by the

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in 1931, and to the Scottish Bar in 1932.

Career

On 4 April 1936 Johnston married Doris Isobel Kidd, the daughter of James Kidd who was

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for

Linlithgowshire West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geographically by the Av ...

from 1918 to 1928. They had two sons and two daughters. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he served in the army; on his return he was promoted to be an

Advocate Depute The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is the independent public prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by His Majesty's Lord Advocate, who under the S ...

, a crown prosecutor, in 1945. He was made a Scottish

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in October 1947.

Political career

Johnston had become a supporter of the Labour Party and on 29 October 1947 he was appointed as

Solicitor General for Scotland , body = , insignia = Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg , insigniasize = 110px , image = File:Official Portrait of Ruth Charteris QC.png , incumbent = Ruth Charteris KC , incumbentsince = 22 June 2021 , department = Crown Office and ...

, a government position. He was not then a Member of Parliament but when the constituency of Paisley was vacated by Viscount Corvedale on inheriting his father's Earldom, Johnston was selected to follow him as Labour candidate on 8 January 1948. In the ensuing by-election he faced a straight fight with J.M. MacCormick, a Glasgow solicitor who had been a prominent Scottish Nationalist and was adopted as candidate both by the Conservatives and Liberals. Johnston won by 6,545 votes. Johnston retained his government post until Labour went out of office in 1951. He then became an opposition front-bencher. In May 1954 he moved the rejection of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Bill on the grounds that it burdened the community with the cost of compensating landowners for the loss of land value. He was not a prominent figure, concentrating on the details of policy. In the meantime he kept up his practice at the Scottish Bar, often appearing at public inquiries.

Judicial post

In January 1961, Johnston was named as a Senator of the

, a judicial post, an appointment which vacated his Parliamentary seat. He took the judicial title of Lord Johnston. In December 1963 he found that the national joint council responsible for setting teachers' salaries had not been properly constituted, and awarded the schoolteachers who had brought the case their expenses. He was appointed as Chairman of the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland in 1965. After the conviction of three Glasgow youths who had killed a man in a street fight in 1977, Johnston decided to defer the sentencing for 12 months. This action was criticised by the Scottish Police Federation. Johnston retired in 1978.

Sources

*M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981) *"Who Was Who", A & C Black *"The Hon. Lord Johnston" (Obituary), ''The Times'', 21 February 1985

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Douglas 1907 births 1985 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Edinburgh British Army personnel of World War II Members of the Faculty of Advocates Members of the Inner Temple Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Paisley constituencies Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951 People educated at Aberdeen Grammar School 20th-century King's Counsel Royal Artillery officers Scottish Labour MPs Scottish King's Counsel Senators of the College of Justice Solicitors General for Scotland UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964