Sir William Young Darling

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

LLD Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation#Plural forms, abbrev ...

MC (8 May 1885 – 4 February 1962) was the Unionist

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 of ...

in the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

for the Edinburgh South

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...

from 1945 to 1957. He was a director of the

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Bank ...

from 1942 to 1957.

Life

He was born in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

, the second son of William Darling of Edinburgh. He was educated firstly at James Gillespie's School then Daniel Stewart's College and

Heriot-Watt College Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

. The

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

later awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD). In the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he joined the

Black Watch The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment ...

as a private in 1914 and then after receiving a commission he joined the

Royal Scots The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment), once known as the Royal Regiment of Foot, was the oldest and most senior infantry regiment of the line of the British Army, having been raised in 1633 during the reign of Charles I of Scotland. The regimen ...

in 1915 as a 2nd Lieutenant. He saw much action and was wounded five times. He was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

with bar and was

Mentioned in Dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

. From 1920 to 1922 he served in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

during the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...

. During this period, together with Hugh Pollard (1888–1966), he jointly printed the ''Weekly Summary'': a synopsis of the war from a British perspective. On leaving the army he became Director of the family drapers firm. He became a member of

Edinburgh Corporation The City of Edinburgh Council is the local government authority for the city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. With a population of in mid-2019, it is the second most populous local authority area in Scotland. In its current form, the counci ...

in 1933 and was city treasurer from 1937 to 1940. He was Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1941 to 1944; National Government Candidate for West Lothian, 1937; and chairman,

Scottish Council on Industry The Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI), founded in 1931, is a non-governmental, membership organisation which aims to strengthen Scotland's economic competitiveness through influencing government and key stakeholders to creat ...

, from 1942 to 1946. He was appointed CBE in 1923 and knighted in 1943. In the Second World War he was Chief

Air Raid Warden Air Raid Precautions (ARP) refers to a number of organisations and guidelines in the United Kingdom dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. Government consideration for air raid precautions increased in the 1920s an ...

for Edinburgh from 1939 to 1941. He died on 4 February 1962. He is buried in Traquair Parish Churchyard.

Publications

The first five books were published anonymously: *''The Private Papers of a Bankrupt Bookseller'' (1931) *''Hades! The Ladies!: Being Extracts from the Diary of a Draper, Charles Cavers, Esquire late of Bond Street London West'' (1933) *''The Old Mill: Being the Candid Chronicles of Penelope Potter'' (1934) *''Down but Not Out: Being the True Story of Peter Gogg'' (1935) *''The Bankrupt Bookseller Speaks Again'' (1938) Published under his own name: *''Why I Believe in God'' (1944) Published under the pseudonym "Timoleon": *''King's Cross to Waverley: A Discursive Diary Telling of Persons and Policies, Opinions and Occurrences in Days of War'' (1944) Published under his own name: *''You and Your Neighbour: A Presentation of Local Government'' (1945) *''The Bankrupt Bookseller'' (omnibus edition) (1947) *''A Book of Days: A Dictionary of Dates, a Chronology of Circumstance, the Face of Time'' (1951) *''So it Looks to Me'' (1952) (autobiography) *''A Westminster Lad'' (1955) (poems)

Family

He married Agnes Olive Simpson (1885–1962) in 1914. He was the

great uncle An uncle is usually defined as a male relative who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Uncles who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. The female counterpart of an uncle is an aunt, and the reciprocal relati ...

of Alistair Darling, an Edinburgh MP from 1987 to 2015 who held various ministerial and

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

posts in the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

government from 1997 to 2010.

Artistic recognition

His portrait (as Lord Provost of Edinburgh), by

Herbert James Gunn Sir Herbert James Gunn RA RP (30 June 1893– 30 December 1964) was a Scottish landscape and portrait painter. Early life Sir Herbert James Gunn (also known as Sir James Gunn) was born in Glasgow on 30 June 1893, the son of Richard Gunn, a dr ...

is held by the

City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council is the local government authority for the city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. With a population of in mid-2019, it is the second most populous local authority area in Scotland. In its current form, the counci ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Darling, William 1885 births 1962 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Knights Bachelor Politicians awarded knighthoods Unionist Party (Scotland) MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 Royal Scots officers British Army personnel of World War II Recipients of the Military Cross People educated at Stewart's Melville College Lord Provosts of Edinburgh Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Edinburgh constituencies 20th-century Scottish novelists Civil Defence Service personnel