David John Colville, 1st Baron Clydesmuir, (13 February 1894 – 31 October 1954), was a Scottish Unionist politician, and industrialist. He was director of his family's steel and iron business, David Colville & Sons.Family relative.

Early life and education

The only son of John Colville MP, of

Cleland Cleland may refer to: Places * Cleland, South Australia, a suburb ** Cleland National Park, a protected area in South Australia ***Cleland Wildlife Park, a zoo within the area of Cleland National Park * Cleland, North Lanarkshire, a small village ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotl ...

, and Christina Marshall Colville, he was educated at Charterhouse and at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. He served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

with the 6th Battalion of the

Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) was a rifle regiment of the British Army, the only regiment of rifles amongst the Scottish regiments of infantry. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 26th Cameronian Re ...

, and was wounded.

Political career

He was unsuccessful National Liberal candidate for

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

at the 1922 general election. He was unsuccessful again at a by-election in January 1929 for Midlothian and Peebles Northern, but won the seat the general election in May 1929, remaining as the constituency's

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) until 1943. He served in the National Government as Parliamentary Secretary to the Department of Overseas Trade from 1931 to 1935, as Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from 1935 to 1936, as

Financial Secretary to the Treasury The financial secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in His Majesty's Treasury. It is nominally the fifth most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the first lord of the Treasury, the chancellor of the Excheq ...

from 1936 to 1938 and as

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...

from 1938 until 1940.

Diplomatic career and peerage

Colville left

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

in 1943 to become

Governor of Bombay Until the 18th century, Bombay consisted of seven islands separated by shallow sea. These seven islands were part of a larger archipelago in the Arabian sea, off the western coast of India. The date of city's founding is unclear—historians tr ...

, a post he held until January 1948. He acted as Viceroy and Governor-General of India, in 1945, 1946 and 1947. On his return from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

he was raised to the peerage as Baron Clydesmuir, of Braidwood in the County of Lanarkshire. From 1950 to 1954 Lord Clydesmuir served as a Governor of the BBC. Colville was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1936 and was a Brigadier in the

Royal Company of Archers The Royal Company of Archers, The King's Bodyguard for Scotland is a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's bodyguard in Scotland—a role it has performed since 1822 during the reign of King George IV when the company provided a per ...

. He was

Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire This is a list of people who served as Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire. * George Douglas-Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney 1714 - 29 January 1737 *Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 8th Duke of Hamilton 17 March 1794 – 2 August 1799 * Archibald Douglas-Ha ...

from 1952 until his death.

Marriage and children

He married Agnes Anne Bilsland, daughter of Sir William Bilsland, in 1915. They had a son and two daughters. His son, Ronald Colville, 2nd Baron Clydesmuir, served as

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

Arms

References

*Torrance, David, ''The Scottish Secretaries'' (Birlinn 2006) *Who Was Who

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clydesmuir, David Colville, 1st Baron 1894 births 1954 deaths Colville, John Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Lord-Lieutenants of Lanarkshire Cameronians officers People educated at Charterhouse School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge BBC Governors Colville, John Colville, John Colville, John Governors of Bombay Colville, John 20th-century Scottish businesspeople People associated with Stirling (council area) Politics of Midlothian People associated with South Lanarkshire Members of the Royal Company of Archers Ministers in the Chamberlain wartime government, 1939–1940 Ministers in the Chamberlain peacetime government, 1937–1939 Barons created by George VI