Joseph Paton Maclay, 1st Baron Maclay PC (6 September 1857 – 24 April 1951), known as Sir Joseph Maclay, 1st Baronet, from 1914 to 1922, was a Scottish businessman and

public servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

Biography

Maclay was the son of Ebenezer Maclay of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. He was Chairman of Maclay & Macintyre Ltd, shipowners, of Glasgow. In 1916 he was admitted to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

and appointed

Minister of Shipping The Minister of Shipping was a British government post created in the First World War and again in the Second World War. In 1941 it was merged into the position of Minister of Transport which was then renamed Minister of War Transport. Minister of ...

(''Shipping Controller''), a post he held until 1921. Because he was not a member of either house of Parliament, the ministry's spokesman in the House of Commons was Maclay's junior minister Sir

Leo Chiozza Money Sir Leo George Chiozza Money (; 13 June 1870 – 25 September 1944), born Leone Giorgio Chiozza, was an Italian-born economic theorist who moved to Britain in the 1890s, where he made his name as a politician, journalist and author. In the early ...

, whose appointment he had tried to resist. Maclay opposed nationalisation of merchant shipping (it was instead brought under state control but not ownership, like the railways at the time), and insisted that owners still be allowed to make a profit as an incentive, although excessive profits were taxed. Maclay approved four standard designs of merchant ship and began the process of increasing ship construction, although he was hampered by shortages of steel and labour, and ships under construction in the USA were confiscated when she entered the war. Maclay rejected Admiral Jellicoe’s arguments that convoys presented too large a target to U-boats, and that merchant ship masters lacked the discipline to "keep station" in a convoy (from personal experience, he knew the latter to be false). Maclay was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

, of Park Terrace in the City of Glasgow in the County of Lanark, in 1914 and in 1922 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Maclay, of Glasgow in the County of Lanark. In 1915, he purchased Duchal House and its estates in

Kilmacolm Kilmacolm () is a village and civil parish in the Inverclyde council area, and the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on the northern slope of the Gryffe Valley, southeast of Greenock and aroun ...

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Renfr ...

which remains the seat of the Lords Maclay to this day. Lord Maclay married Martha, daughter of William Strang, in 1889. She died in 1929. Lord Maclay survived her by over twenty years and died in April 1951, aged 93. He was succeeded in the barony by his eldest surviving son

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

. His fifth son the Hon.

John Maclay John Scott Maclay, 1st Viscount Muirshiel, (26 October 1905 – 17 August 1992) was a British politician, sitting as a National Liberal and Conservative Member of Parliament before the party was fully assimilated into the Unionist Party in Sco ...

was a prominent politician and was created Viscount Muirshiel in 1964. Maclay was a devout Sabbatarian, who would not even read newspapers on a Sunday, and whose only publication, in 1918, was a book of prayers for family use.Grigg 2002, p46

References

* , photo * * * * * * , photo * * * * Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990. * * Obituary, ''The Times'': 25 April 1951 * * Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Maclay, Joseph Maclay, 1st Baron 1857 births 1951 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Deputy Lieutenants of Glasgow Deputy Lieutenants of Renfrewshire Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Barons created by George V