Francis Campbell Ross Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Barloch KCMG (21 October 1889 – 30 March 1980), was a British journalist, solicitor and Labour Party politician.

Early life

Douglas was born in Wakopa,

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

to a Scottish family. He was educated at

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

and later became a partner in Douglas & Company, solicitors, and also worked as a journalist. A member of Battersea Borough Council, he was

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Battersea in 1922–1923.

Parliamentary career

Having unsuccessfully fought

Yeovil Yeovil () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England. It is close to Somerset's southern border with Dorset, west of London, south of Bristol, west of Sherborne and east of Taunton. The population of the bui ...

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

, he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Battersea North at a by-election in 1940, a seat he held until

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

, and served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the

Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education was a junior ministerial office in the United Kingdom Government. The Board of Education Act 1899 abolished the Committee of the Privy Council which had been responsible for education matters ...

from 1940 to 1945 and to the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

from 1945 to 1946 (

James Chuter Ede James Chuter Chuter-Ede, Baron Chuter-Ede, (; 11 September 1882 – 11 November 1965), was a British teacher, trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for 32 years, and served as the sole Home Secretary u ...

held both positions). He was an advocate of land-value rating and in 1936 wrote a book, revised in 1961, "to present a concise summary of the economic arguments in favour of the rating of land values".

After the Commons

In 1946 Douglas resigned from the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

on being appointed

Governor of Malta A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' may ...

, which he remained until 1949. Douglas was made a KCMG in 1947 and in 1950 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Douglas of Barloch, of Maxfield in the County of Sussex. He was also a member of the

Public Works Loan Board The Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) () was a statutory body of the UK Government that provided loans to public bodies from the National Loans Fund. In 2020, the PWLB was abolished as a statutory organisation, and its functions were allocated to HM T ...

from 1936 to 1946 and of the Railway Assessment Committee from 1938 to 1946 and served as Chairman of the Finance Committee of the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

from 1940 to 1946. After being raised to the peerage he was a Deputy Speaker of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. Lord Douglas of Barloch died in March 1980, aged 90. The title became extinct on his death.

References

* *
Francis Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Barloch at Archives in London and the M25 area

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas of Barloch, Francis Douglas, 1st Baron 1889 births 1980 deaths Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Douglas, Francis Douglas, Francis Douglas, Francis UK MPs who were granted peerages Governors and governors-general of Malta Members of London County Council Alumni of the University of Glasgow Members of Battersea Metropolitan Borough Council Mayors of places in Greater London Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers Barons created by George VI