John Gilmour

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See also John E. Gilmour for the later Conservative Fife East MP.

Sir John Gilmour, 2nd Baronet, PC , DSO (27 May 1876 – 30 March 1940) was a Scottish Tory politician.

Educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond, Edinburgh University and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, he served in South Africa in 1900-1901 and was awarded the Queen's medal with 4 clasps and was twice mentioned in despatches. He later served in World War I, where he was again mentioned in despatches and awarded the DSO with bar. He was Master of the Fife Fox Hounds, 1902-1906 and a Member of Fife County Council 1901-1910.

He unsuccessfully contested East Fife in 1906 and was elected as Member of Parliament for East Renfrewshire from 1910-1918 and for Glasgow Pollok from 1918 until 1940.

He was a Junior Lord of the Treasury in 1921-1922, Scottish Unionist Whip from 1919-1922 and in 1924. He was appointed as Secretary for Scotland in 1924, and became the first Secretary of State for Scotland when the post was upgraded in 1926. He was an Orangeman and whilst some may see his appointment as anti-Catholic it should be pointed out that it was Gilmour who, as the Secretary for Scotland, repudiated the Church of Scotland's highly-controversial report entitled "The Menace of the Irish Race to our Scottish Nationality".

Later in his career he served as Minister of Shipping during the early months of the Second World War but died in office in 1940.

He was Rector of Edinburgh University, 1926-1929 and was awarded honorary degrees by the University of Glasgow in 1925, Edinburgh University in 1927 and St Andrews University in 1929. He was a Brigadier with the Royal Company of Archers. He had previously inherited his father's baronetcy in 1920.

[edit] References

• Torrance, David, The Scottish Secretaries (Birlinn 2006)
• This page incorporates information from Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by: Michael Hugh Shaw-Stewart	Member of Parliament for East Renfrewshire January 1910–1918	Succeeded by: Robert Nichol
Preceded by: new constituency	Member of Parliament for Glasgow Pollok 1918–1940	Succeeded by: Thomas Dunlop Galbraith
Political offices
Preceded by: William Adamson	Secretary for Scotland 1924–1926	Succeeded by: Secretary of State for Scotland
Preceded by: Office Reestablished	Secretary of State for Scotland 1926–1929	Succeeded by: William Adamson
Preceded by: Christopher Addison	Minister of Agriculture 1931–1932	Succeeded by: Walter Elliot
Preceded by: Sir Herbert Samuel	Secretary of State for the Home Department 1932–1935	Succeeded by: Sir John Simon
Preceded by: New Office	Minister of Shipping 1939–1940	Succeeded by: Robert Hudson