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Basil Neven-Spence

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Scottish politician

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Sir Basil Neven-Spence
Neven-Spence in November 1969
Member of Parliament
for Orkney and Shetland
In office
14 November 1935 – 23 February 1950
Preceded bySir Robert Hamilton
Succeeded byJo Grimond
Personal details
Born(1888-05-12)12 May 1888
Leith, Scotland, United Kingdom
Died13 September 1974(1974-09-13) (aged 86)
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Resting placeUyea Chapel Cemetery, Uyea, Unst
Political partyUnionist
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
Military service
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch/service British Army
Years of service1911–1927
RankMajor
UnitRoyal Army Medical Corps
Battles/warsWorld War I
Awards

Sir Basil Hamilton Hebden Neven-Spence (12 June 1888 – 13 September 1974) was a Scottish Unionist Party politician and military physician.

Neven-Spence came from a prominent landowning family in the Shetland Islands. Neven-Spence graduated from Edinburgh University in 1911. He served with the Royal Army Medical Corps, seconded to help the Egyptian Army and government of Sudan, and in the First World War, mainly in the Middle East. He received the Order of the Nile for his role in the Darfur Expedition. Following the war he organised a campaign to treat sleeping sickness in Darfur. He returned to the University of Edinburgh to study for an M.D., before moving to Aldershot in 1924 to work as a specialist physician to the British Army. He retired from the Army in 1927 with the rank of Major.

Neven-Spence's family had owned property in Shetland for several generations and he became Vice-Convenor of Zetland County Council.

Neven-Spence first contested the Orkney and Shetland constituency in 1929. He did not contest the seat in 1931, but was elected in 1935 and served as the Member of Parliament until he lost his seat at the 1950 general election to Jo Grimond of the Liberal Party.

He was knighted in 1945 and served as Lord Lieutenant of Shetland from 1952 to 1963.

As of 2024, Neven-Spence is the most recent MP for the Orkney and Shetland constituency to not be from either the Liberal Party or the Liberal Democrats. He once lived on the island of Uyea.

Family

Basil St. Clair Neven-Spence, Sir Basil's son, served in the Colonial Office following serving in World War II. Basil St. Clair died by suicide at the age of 22, after having been assigned to the island of Tanna in the New Hebrides.

References

  1. "Sir Basil Hamilton Hebden NEVEN-SPENCE b. 12 May 1888 Holms, Granton Road, Edinburgh, MLN, SCT d. 13 Sep 1974 Edinburgh, MLN, SCT: Shetland Family History".
  2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "O"
  3. ^ Rodman, Margaret (2001). Houses Far from Home: British Colonial Space in the New Hebrides. University of Hawaii Press. p. 151. ISBN 9780824823948.
  4. "No. 37227". The London Gazette. 17 August 1945.
  5. "Publications".
  6. Rodman, Margaret (2001). Houses Far from Home: British Colonial Space in the New Hebrides. University of Hawaii Press. p. 152. ISBN 9780824823948.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded bySir Robert Hamilton Member of Parliament for Orkney and Shetland
1935–1950 		Succeeded byJo Grimond
Honorary titles
Preceded bySir Arthur Nicolson Lord Lieutenant of Shetland
1952–1963 		Succeeded byRobert Bruce


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