James Gray Stuart, 1st Viscount Stuart of Findhorn, (9 February 1897 – 20 February 1971) was a British Unionist politician. He was joint-Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury in Winston Churchill's war-time coalition government and later served as Secretary of State for Scotland under Churchill and then Sir Anthony Eden from 1951 to 1957. In 1959 he was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Stuart of Findhorn.

Background

Born in Edinburgh, Stuart was the third and youngest son of Morton Stuart, 17th Earl of Moray, and Edith Douglas Palmer, daughter of Rear-Admiral George Palmer. He was educated at Eton College and was set to attend the University of Cambridge, but the plans were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I.

Military service

Stuart was commissioned from the Officers' Training Corps into the Special Reserve as a probationary Second lieutenant in the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Royal Scots (his probation completed in Jan 1915 ) and served in the war, reaching the rank of Captain. He was awarded the Military Cross and Bar in 1917. He was appointed Equerry to HRH Prince Albert in June 1920, and was appointed a Member (4th Class) of the Royal Victorian Order in the 1922 New Year Honours, with the award dated 3 December 1921.

Political career

Stuart sat as Member of Parliament (MP) for Moray and Nairn from 1923 to 1959. He served as a Lord of the Treasury from 1935 to 1941 under successively Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill and was sworn of the Privy Council in the 1939 Birthday Honours. In 1941 Churchill promoted him to joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Government Chief Whip), which he remained until 1945. He continued as Conservative Chief Whip until 1948. In 1950 he became Chairman of the Scottish Unionist Party, a post he held until 1962. When the Conservatives returned to power under Churchill in 1951, Stuart was made Secretary of State for Scotland, with a seat in the cabinet. He continued in this post until 1957, the last two years under the premiership of Sir Anthony Eden. He was appointed a Companion of Honour in 1957. On 20 November 1959 he was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Stuart of Findhorn, of Findhorn in the County of Moray.

Family

In 1923 Stuart married Lady Rachel Cavendish, daughter of Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire. They had three children: Stuart's sister-in-law Dorothy Cavendish was the wife of Harold Macmillan. Stuart died at Salisbury Infirmary on 20 February 1971, aged 74, and was succeeded in the viscountcy by his elder son. His widow died in October 1977. Before his marriage, Stuart had been noted as a suitor of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon while serving as an equerry to her eventual husband Prince Albert, Duke of York (the future King George VI).

Arms

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