William Warrender Mackenzie, 1st Baron Amulree, (19 August 1860 – 5 May 1942), known as Sir William Mackenzie between 1918 and 1929, was a British barrister, public servant and

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 ...

(later National Labour) politician. He served as

Secretary of State for Air The Secretary of State for Air was a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state position in the British government, which existed from 1919 to 1964. The person holding this position was in charge of the Air Ministry. The Secretar ...

under

Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...

between 1930 and 1931.

Background and education

Amulree was the son of Robert Robyn, of Scone,

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

, and Jean, daughter of Basil Menzies. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh and was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

, in 1886.

Public career

Mackenzie published ''The Overseer's Handbook'' in 1889 and became a

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

in 1914. He was appointed to the Order of the British Empire as a Commander (CBE) in 1917 and promoted in the same

Order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

to a Knight Commander (KBE) in 1918. The latter year he became Chairman of the Committee on Production, a position he held until 1919. He was then President of the Industrial Court between 1919 and 1926 and Chairman of the National Wages Board for Railways between 1920 and 1926, of the Industrial Delegation to Canada and the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

between 1926 and 1927 and of the Departmental Committee on the Shop Hours Act 1927. He was promoted within the Order of the British Empire to be a Knight Grand Cross (GBE).

Political career

In 1929 Mackenzie was raised to the peerage as Baron Amulree, of Strathbraan in the County of Perth. In October 1930 he was appointed

's second Labour government (succeeding the deceased Lord Thomson), with a seat in the cabinet, and was sworn of 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 ...

at the same time. He was one of the few Labour politicians to follow MacDonald into the

National Government A national government is the government of a nation. National government or National Government may also refer to: * Central government in a unitary state, or a country that does not give significant power to regional divisions * Federal governme ...

, where he retained his post until the reconstruction of the government after the November 1931 general election, although not as a member of the Cabinet. Lord Amulree also chaired the Newfoundland Royal Commission in 1933, which prepared a report on the future of

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 ...

as a dominion in the British Empire.

Family

Lord Amulree married Lilian, daughter of W. H. Bradbury, in 1897. She died at Cheam,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, in June 1916. Amulree died in May 1942, aged 81, and was succeeded in the barony by his son, Basil, who became a distinguished physician.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amulree, William Warrender Mackenzie, 1st Baron 1860 births 1942 deaths Secretaries of State for Air (UK) Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 1 British King's Counsel British people of Scottish descent Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers 20th-century King's Counsel Barons created by George V