William John Allan Macartney (17 February 1941 – 25 August 1998) was a Scottish politician who served as a

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 ...

MEP for the North East Scotland constituency between the 1994

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

election and his sudden death from a heart attack in 1998.

Early life

Macartney was born in

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

. He was the son of a

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

minister, his family soon returned to

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 ...

and he was schooled in Elgin,

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...

. He studied at the universities of

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...

and

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and then at the universities of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

(graduating in

Economic Science Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

in 1962) and

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 ...

. Upon completing his studies he returned to Africa as a voluntary secondary schoolteacher in eastern

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

(1963−1964). He then worked as a lecturer in government and administration at the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland from 1966 to 1974. He completed a PhD on the politics of Botswana, supervised by John Mackintosh. Upon returning to Scotland, he continued his academic career, serving as Staff Tutor in

Politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

from 1975 to 1994. He founded the Unit for the Study of Government in Scotland at 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 ...

, and was elected

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

Political career

While at the University of Glasgow, he was a founder of the

Federation of Student Nationalists SNP Students (also known as the Federation of Student Nationalists) is the student wing of the Scottish National Party (SNP), representing students in Scottish higher education. It was formed in 1961 when various student organisations supportiv ...

in 1961. He was also the founder and Provost of the Scottish Self-Government College. In 1989 he stood as the SNP candidate for North East Scotland in the

1989 European Parliament election The 1989 European Parliament election was a European election held across the 12 European Community member states in June 1989. It was the third European election but the first time that Spain and Portugal voted at the same time as the other m ...

where, despite a large increase in the share of the vote, he lost to Labour's

Henry McCubbin Henry Bell McCubbin (born 15 July 1942) is a Scottish politician. After a career as a film cameraman for television companies, he served one term in the European Parliament for the Labour Party; more recently he has left the party, but remains ...

. After this he was selected as a prospective candidate for the Westminster elections. He was unsuccessful in the 1991 Kincardine and Deeside by-election and at the same seat in the 1992 election. He was elected SNP depute leader in 1992. In

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

Macartney was elected as the MEP for North East Scotland gaining the seat with a swing from Labour to the SNP of 7.6%. Macartney was elected Rector of the University of Aberdeen in 1996. In August 1998 Macartney was unanimously re-selected as the SNP's candidate for the 1999 European Parliament elections.

Death and legacy

Macartney collapsed and died on 25 August 1998 at his home in Aberdeen. A service of thanksgiving was held in

St Machar's Cathedral St Machar's Cathedral usually called Old Machar (Scottish Gaelic: Cathair-eaglais Naomh Machar), (or, more formally, the Cathedral Church of St Machar) is a Church of Scotland church in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is located to the north of the c ...

. At the 1998 North East Scotland by-election, caused by Allan Macartney's death,

Ian Hudghton Ian Stewart Hudghton (born 19 September 1951) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who was President of the SNP from 2005 to 2020. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for North East Scotland (1998–1999) and its successo ...

held the seat for the SNP with a substantially increased majority. In 2000, the University of Aberdeen introduced a new scholarship in his honour. In 2006, an internship was launched by the SNP named after Macartney. Its aims are to encourage young people to take an interest in

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

and

Scottish Politics The politics of Scotland operate within the constitution of the United Kingdom, of which Scotland is a home nation. Scotland is a democracy, being represented in both the Scottish Parliament and the Parliament of the United Kingdom since the Sco ...

. Applicants do not have to be members of the SNP.
Source

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macartney, Allan 1941 births 1998 deaths Academics of the Open University Academics of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Glasgow Rectors of the University of Aberdeen People from Moray Elders of the Church of Scotland Scottish National Party MEPs MEPs for Scotland 1994–1999 University of Tübingen alumni University of Marburg alumni