The National Party of Scotland (NPS) was a

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

which was one of the predecessors of the current

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

(SNP). The NPS was the first

Scottish nationalist Scottish nationalism promotes the idea that the Scottish people form a cohesive nation and national identity. Scottish nationalism began to shape from 1853 with the National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights, progressing into t ...

political party, and the first which campaigned for Scottish

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

. The National Party of Scotland was founded in 1928 by the amalgamation of the

Scots National League The Scots National League (SNL) was a political organisation which campaigned for Scottish independence in the 1920s. It amalgamated with other Scottish nationalist bodies in 1928 to form the National Party of Scotland. The Scots National Leag ...

(SNL), the Scottish National Movement (SNM) and the

Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association The Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association (GUSNA) is a student organisation formed in 1927 at the University of Glasgow which supports Scottish independence. History GUSNA is important historically as it predated many pro-independ ...

(GUSNA). The NPS emerged from the consensus among members of these groups, and the Scottish Home Rule Association, that an independent political party, free of any connections to any existing parties, was the best way forward for achieving Scottish Home Rule. The NPS contested the

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 ...

and

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

United Kingdom general election This is a list of United Kingdom general elections (elections for the UK House of Commons) since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland, ...

s, and a number of

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

s. In 1934 the NPS merged with the

Scottish Party The Scottish (Self-Government) Party was a Scottish nationalist political party formed in 1932 by a group of members of the Unionist Party who favoured the establishment of a Dominion Scottish Parliament within the British Empire. The Scottish ...

to form the

(SNP).

Origins and history

The NPS was formed in 1928 after

John MacCormick John MacDonald MacCormick (20 November 1904 – 13 October 1961) was a Scottish lawyer, Scottish nationalist politician and advocate of Home Rule in Scotland. Early life MacCormick was born in Pollokshields, Glasgow, in 1904. His father was Dona ...

of the

called a meeting of all those favouring the establishment of a party favouring Scottish

Home Rule Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...

. The meeting was presided over by

Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham (24 May 1852 – 20 March 1936) was a Scottish politician, writer, journalist and adventurer. He was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP); the first ever socialist member of the Parliament of the United Ki ...

, who had been a

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, then

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak o ...

politician. The NPS was formed by the amalgamation of GUSNA with the

Lewis Spence James Lewis Thomas Chalmers Spence (25 November 1874 – 3 March 1955) was a Scottish journalist, poet, author, folklorist and occult scholar. Spence was a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, and vice- ...

's Scots National Movement and the Scottish Home Rule Movement. On 23 June an inauguration took place in Stirling. The NPS was a left-of-centre party. The celebrated poet,

Hugh MacDiarmid Christopher Murray Grieve (11 August 1892 – 9 September 1978), best known by his pen name Hugh MacDiarmid (), was a Scottish poet, journalist, essayist and political figure. He is considered one of the principal forces behind the Scottish Rena ...

was a member, but was expelled on account of his communist views (ironically, he would later be expelled from the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

for his Scottish Nationalist beliefs). Other figures besides MacDiarmid were involved.

Eric Linklater Eric Robert Russell Linklater CBE (8 March 1899 – 7 November 1974) was a Welsh-born Scottish poet, fiction writer, military historian, and travel writer. For ''The Wind on the Moon'', a children's fantasy novel, he won the 1944 Carnegie Meda ...

stood as an NPS candidate in the

1933 East Fife by-election The 1933 East Fife by-election was held on Thursday, 2 February 1933. The by-election was held due to the death of the sitting National Liberal MP, Sir James Duncan Millar. It was won by the National Liberal candidate James Henderson Stewart. ...

, and

Neil Gunn Neil Miller Gunn (8 November 1891 – 15 January 1973) was a prolific novelist, critic, and dramatist who emerged as one of the leading lights of the Scottish Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. With over twenty novels to his credit, Gunn was ...

played a role in aiding the NPS amalgamation with the Scottish Party.

Merger

In 1932 a home rule organisation, the

, was formed by former members of the then Unionist Party, precursor of the modern

Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party ( gd, Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Tory an Unionist Pairty), often known simply as the Scottish Conservatives and colloquially as the Scottish Tories, is a centre-right political par ...

. MacCormick desired unity amongst the Scottish Nationalist movement and made contact with the Scottish Party. Increasingly the two parties began to co-operate, and when the Scottish Party chose to contest the

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

by-election in November 1933 the NPS endorsed their candidate. In 1934 the NPS and Scottish Party merged to form the

Leaders of the National Party of Scotland

Roland Muirhead Roland Eugene Muirhead (24 July 1868 – 2 August 1964) was a Scottish businessman and Scottish nationalism, Scottish nationalist politician. Muirhead was born in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, the second son of Andrew Muirhead, a businessman and ...

, (1928–1932?)

Electoral performance

was the first nationalist to stand for election. He contested Midlothian and Peebles Northern at a by-election in 1929 and came fourth, with 4.5% of the vote. The NPS contested many elections in its short existence but never managed to get any of its candidates elected to parliament.

By-elections, 1929

1929 general election

By-elections, 1929-1931

1931 general election

By-elections, 1931-1933

References

Collection of material relating to the Scottish National Party
at The

Archives Hub The Archives Hub is a Jisc service, and is freely available to all. It provides a cross-search of descriptions of archives held across the United Kingdom, in over 320 institutions, including universities, colleges, specialist repositories, charit ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:National Party Of Scotland Defunct political parties in Scotland Political history of Scotland Political parties established in 1928 Political parties disestablished in 1934 Scottish National Party 1928 establishments in Scotland 1934 disestablishments in Scotland Scottish nationalist parties