Gordon Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor (27 May 1888 – 20 January 1966) was a British Labour Party politician and

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

's final British governor as well as the last chairman of the Commission of Government serving from 1946 until the colony joined Confederation in 1949 and became a province of Canada.

Early life

Macdonald was born in Gwaenysgor, near Prestatyn, Flintshire, Wales. His birth was registered (as Gordon McDonald) in Holywell in the third quarter of 1888. His father, Thomas Macdonald, and his mother, Ellen, were both

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

. The family moved to the Lancashire Coalfield where he was brought up, his father working as a coalminer in a pit near

Ashton in Makerfield Ashton may refer to: Names *Ashton (given name) *Ashton (surname) Places Australia * Ashton, Elizabeth Bay, a heritage-listed house in Sydney, New South Wales *Ashton, South Australia Canada *Ashton, Ontario New Zealand * Ashton, New Zealand ...

. Educated in a local elementary school, he initially followed his father into the collieries aged 13. He subsequently won a scholarship to

Ruskin College Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is an independent educational institution in Oxford, England. It is not a college of Oxford University. It is named after the essayist, art and social critic John Ruskin (1819–1900) an ...

. In 1920 he was elected to Wigan Board of Guardians, in 1924 became president of a local

co-operative society A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

and in the same year a miner's agent for the Miners' Federation of Great Britain.

Member of Parliament

At the 1929 general election Macdonald was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Ince, holding the seat until 1942. He was a junior Labour whip from 1931 to 1934 and was chairman of committees in the House of Commons. He resigned from Parliament in July 1942 to take up the post of Regional Controller for the Ministry of Fuel and Power for the Lancashire, Cheshire, and North Wales Region.

Governor of Newfoundland

In January 1946 he was appointed Governor of Newfoundland and Commander in Chief of Newfoundland and its Dependencies, and chairman of the unelected Commission of Government that governed the dominion. At the same time he was created

Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

. He oversaw the election of the Newfoundland National Convention in 1946, and the holding of two referendums in 1948, which led to Newfoundland becoming a province of Canada in March 1949. Macdonald was viewed as being pro-federation and was accused of bias by Peter Cashin and supporters of

responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive bran ...

and of manipulating the referendums. Macdonald left the island upon its entry to Canada in 1949. Two days after his departure, an apparently congratulatory poem was published in '' The Evening Telegram''. It emerged that the poem was an

acrostic An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the Fre ...

, with the first letter of each line spelling out "THE BASTARD".

Paymaster-General

On return to the United Kingdom in 1949, Macdonald joined the government of Clement Attlee as Paymaster-General, elevated to the House of Lords as

Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor, of Gwaenysgor in the County of Flint, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 13 April 1949 for Gordon Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor, Sir Gordon Macdonald, the last British ...

. In 1950 he was leader of the British delegation to the Commonwealth Conference on Economic Aid to Countries of South East Asia held in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

and was a delegate to United Nations General Assembly at Lake Success, New York. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1951. He held office until Labour lost power at the 1951 general election.

Later life

Macdonald continued to be active in public life. A fluent

speaker, from 1952 to 1960 he was National Governor for Wales of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and from 1953 until his death was chairman of the Broadcasting Council for Wales. From 1952 to 1959 he was a member of the

Colonial Development Corporation British International Investment, (formerly CDC Group plc, Commonwealth Development Corporation, and Colonial Development Corporation) is the development finance institution of the UK government. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office ...

. A Congregationalist in religion, he was National President of the Band of Hope Union of Great Britain in 1951. He held two honorary doctorates in law from

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Like other liberal arts colleges in North America, Mount Allison does not parti ...

Sackville, New Brunswick Sackville is a town in southeastern New Brunswick, Canada. It is home to Mount Allison University, a primarily undergraduate liberal arts university. Historically based on agriculture, shipbuilding, and manufacturing, the economy is now driven ...

and the University of Wales.

Family

In 1913 he married Mary Lewis of

Blaenau Ffestiniog Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Once a slate mining centre in historic Merionethshire, it now relies much on tourists, drawn for instance to the Ffestiniog Railway and Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It reached a population of 12,00 ...

. The couple had two sons and one daughter. He died in January 1966, aged 77. His eldest son, Gordon Ramsay MacDonald, succeeded him in the barony.

References

External links

*
Lord MacDonald of Gwaenysgor
on the Dictionary of Welsh Biography *Brief description o
Lord MacDonald's papers
at the National Library of Wales {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Gordon 1885 births 1966 deaths Governors of the Dominion of Newfoundland Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Members of the Newfoundland Commission of Government Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Miners' Federation of Great Britain-sponsored MPs Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951 People from Prestatyn Place of death missing UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs who were granted peerages Barons created by George VI British people in the Dominion of Newfoundland