View source for Willie Ross, Baron Ross of Marnock

{{Short description|Scottish politician (1911-1988)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name                = The Lord Ross of Marnock
| honorific-suffix    = [[Member of the Order of the British Empire|MBE]] [[Privy Council (United Kingdom)|PC]]
| office              = [[Secretary of State for Scotland]]
| primeminister       = [[Harold Wilson]]
| term_start          = 4 March 1974
| term_end            = 8 April 1976
| predecessor         = [[Gordon Campbell, Baron Campbell of Croy|Gordon Campbell]]
| successor           = [[Bruce Millan]]
| primeminister2      = [[Harold Wilson]]
| term_start2         = 16 October 1964
| term_end2           = 19 June 1970
| predecessor2        = [[Michael Noble, Baron Glenkinglas|Michael Noble]]
| successor2          = [[Gordon Campbell, Baron Campbell of Croy|Gordon Campbell]]
| office3             = [[Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland]]
| leader3             = [[Harold Wilson]]
| term_start3         = 19 June 1970
| term_end3           = 4 March 1974
| predecessor3        = [[Gordon Campbell, Baron Campbell of Croy|Gordon Campbell]]
| successor3          = [[Alick Buchanan-Smith (politician)|Alick Buchanan-Smith]]
| leader4             = [[Hugh Gaitskell]]<br>[[Harold Wilson]]
| term_start4         = 7 December 1961
| term_end4           = 16 October 1964
| predecessor4        = [[Tom Fraser]]
| successor4          = [[Michael Noble, Baron Glenkinglas|Michael Noble]]
| constituency_MP5    = [[Kilmarnock (UK Parliament constituency)|Kilmarnock]]
| term_start5         = 6 December 1946
| term_end5           = 7 April 1979
| predecessor5        = [[Clarice Shaw]]
| successor5          = [[William McKelvey]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1911|4|7|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Ayr]], Scotland, United Kingdom
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1988|6|10|1911|4|7|df=y}}
| death_place         = Ayr, Scotland, United Kingdom
| party               = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| alma_mater          = [[University of Glasgow]]
| profession          = Teacher
| spouse              = Elizabeth Aitkenhead
| children            = 2
| image               = File:Willie Ross.jpg
| caption             = Ross giving a speech during his parliamentary career
}}
'''William Ross, Baron Ross of Marnock''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|MBE|PC}} (7 April 1911 – 10 June 1988) was the longest serving [[Secretary of State for Scotland]], holding office from [[First Wilson ministry|1964–1970]] and again from [[Labour government 1974–79|1974–1976]], throughout the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|premiership]] of [[Harold Wilson]].
==Early life and military career==
Born in [[Ayr]], the son of a train driver, he was educated at [[Ayr Academy]] and the [[University of Glasgow]] and became a schoolteacher before [[World War II]]. He served in the [[Highland Light Infantry]] in [[India]], [[Burma]] and [[Singapore]] and was then a [[Major (rank)|major]] in [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Louis Mountbatten]]'s headquarters in Ceylon (now [[Sri Lanka]]).  At one point he guarded [[Rudolf Hess]].<ref>Douglas-Hamilton, James ''The Truth About Rudolf Hess'' p. 154</ref> He became a Member of the [[Order of the British Empire]] in 1945.
==Politics==
After unsuccessfully contesting [[Ayr Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)|Ayr Burghs]] at the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]], Ross was elected [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Kilmarnock (UK Parliament constituency)|Kilmarnock]] in a [[1946 Kilmarnock by-election|by-election]] in 1946. He was [[Parliamentary Private Secretary]] to [[Hector McNeil]] during his tenure as [[Secretary of State for Scotland]] and in 1954 placed an amendment to the [[Bill (proposed law)|bill]] on the licensing of [[commercial television]], advocating a ban on [[adverts]] on Sundays, [[Good Friday]] and [[Christmas Day]].
After serving as Shadow Secretary of State from 1962, he became Secretary of State for Scotland in 1964 under [[Harold Wilson]]. The [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]] were in government from 1970 to 1974, when Ross resumed his position until he lost office when Wilson resigned in 1976. During his tenure, he was responsible for the creation of the [[Highlands and Islands Development Board]] and the [[Scottish Development Agency]], the forerunners of [[Highlands and Islands Enterprise]] and [[Scottish Enterprise]] respectively. Ross campaigned for a "No" vote in the [[1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum|1975 referendum]] on British membership of the [[European Community|EEC]].<ref>David Butler and Uwe Kitzinger, ''The 1975 Referendum'' (London: Macmillan, 1976), p. 179.</ref> He was also a firm [[Scottish unionist|unionist]], in favour of [[Scotland]] and [[Northern Ireland]] remaining in the [[United Kingdom]], and opposed [[devolution]]. Journalist [[Andrew Marr]] has called him "a stern-faced and authoritarian [[Presbyterian]] conservative who ran the country like a personal [[fiefdom]] for [[Harold Wilson]]". Ross coined the term "Tartan Tories" to describe the members of the [[Scottish National Party]], whom he very much disliked; he was himself nicknamed "the hammer of the Nats" for his many attacks on them. The nickname "Tartan Tories" is still used in the present day by some left-leaning critics of the SNP.
He represented Kilmarnock until the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979 general election]], when he was created a [[life peer]] as ''' Baron Ross of Marnock''', of Kilmarnock in the District of [[Kilmarnock]] and [[Loudoun]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=47913|page=9441|date=26 July 1979}}</ref>
Ross was occasionally depicted by newspaper cartoonists as a boy in dungarees seated on an upturned bucket, as a reference to the Scottish cartoon character [[Oor Wullie]].
He was [[Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland]] from 1978 to 1980, and became Honorary President of the [[Scottish Football Association]] in 1978. He married Elizabeth Jane Elma Aitkenhead, daughter of John Aitkenhead in 1948 and the couple had two daughters. He died of cancer in 1988.
Lady Ross lived to the age of 94 and died in 2018.<ref>[https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/8bfb3eb2-f567-11e7-9cfd-f28094b4d5ce Elma Ross]</ref>
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
* Torrance, David, ''The Scottish Secretaries'' (Birlinn 2006)
* {{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/39856|title=Ross, William, Baron Ross of Marnock (1911–1988)|last=Hughes|first=William|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/39856|access-date=28 February 2010}}
==External links==
* {{Hansard-contribs|mr-william-ross|William Ross}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Secretary of State for Scotland]]|years=1974–1976}}
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{{Secretaries of State for Scotland}}
{{Second Wilson Ministry}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Willie}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
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[[Category:People from Ayr]]
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