Hugh Macmillan, Baron Macmillan
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Hugh Pattison Macmillan, Baron Macmillan (20 February 1873 – 5 September 1952) was a Scottish judge.
The son of the Revd Hugh Macmillan, he was educated at Collegiate School, Greenock, at Edinburgh University (1st class honours in philosophy) and the University of Glasgow (LLB). He was admitted as an advocate in 1897, becoming King's Counsel in 1912.
When the Labour government of Ramsay Macdonald was elected in 1924 - the first time the Labour Party had taken power - it had no QCs in Scotland amongst its Parliamentary representation. Macdonald therefore turned to Macmillan, whose reputation at the Bar was considerable, to take the job of Lord Advocate, even though he was a Conservative. He served as Lord Advocate from February to November 1924.
Macmillan was standing counsel for the Dominion of Canada from 1928, and for the Commonwealth of Australia from 1929.
In 1930, he was appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and additionally created a life peer as Baron Macmillan of Aberfeldy in the County of Perthshire, one of only two men ever to have been appointed a judge in the House of Lords straight fromn the Bar (the other one being Lord Reid, also a Scots lawyer). Macmillan sat as a Law Lord until 1947 except for a brief period at the outbreak of World War II when he was Minister of Information. However he came in for much criticism in this role and was soon replaced. The Ministry of Information was located in the Senate House, University of London, and the Macmillan Hall there is named after him.
He held a number of chairmanships, including the Treasury Finance and Industry Committee in 1929-31, the Royal Commission on Canadian banking and currency in 1933, the Pilgrim Trust from 1935-52, the Political Honours Committee from 1935-52, the court of London University from 1929-43, and the BBC Advisory Council from 1936-46.
He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1924 and was awarded the GCVO in 1937.
His autobiography, A Man of Law's Tale, was published in 1952.
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| Legal Offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: William Watson |
Lord Advocate 1924 |
Succeeded by: William Watson |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by: New Office |
Minister of Information 1939–1940 |
Succeeded by: Sir John Reith |
