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Niall Malcolm Stewart Macpherson, 1st Baron Drumalbyn KBE PC (3 August 1908 – 11 October 1987) was a Scottish Tory and National Liberal politician.

Background and education

The member of an important Liberal family from Inverness-shire, Macpherson was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Stewart Macpherson and Helen, daughter of Reverend Archibald Borland Cameron. He was the brother of George Macpherson and Sir Tommy Macpherson and a nephew of Lord Strathcarron. He was educated at Fettes College and Trinity College, Oxford. He initially worked in business, representing a firm in Turkey. He joined the Cameron Highlanders from 1939, serving in World War II including in Madagascar.

Political career

Macpherson was elected Member of Parliament for Dumfriesshire at the 1945 general election. He served as Liberal-Unionist Scottish whip from 1950 to 1955, when he was appointed Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland by Sir Anthony Eden, a post he retained when Harold Macmillan became Prime Minister in early 1957. In 1960 he was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade. Two years later Macpherson was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed Minister of Pensions and National Insurance. In October 1963 he was made Joint-Minister of State for Trade by the new Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, and the following month he was raised to the peerage as Baron Drumalbyn, of Whitesands in the Royal Burgh of Dumfries. He continued at the Board of Trade until the Conservative government fell at the 1964 general election. He was once again a member of the government as Minister without Portfolio under Edward Heath from 1970 to 1974.

Niall Macpherson Indemnity Act 1954
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to indemnify Niall Macpherson, Esquire, from any penal consequences which he may have incurred by sitting or voting as a member of the House of Commons while holding the office of member of the London agency of the Dried Fruits Control Board of the Commonwealth of Australia, and to remove any disqualification for membership of that House by reason of his having held that office.
Citation	2 & 3 Eliz. 2. c. 29
Dates
Royal assent	13 May 1954
Other legislation
Repealed by	Representation of the People Act 1969
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

In 1954, his membership of the London agency of the Dried Fruits Control Board of the Commonwealth of Australia gave rise to concern that he might be disqualified from sitting or voting as a member of the House of Commons by virtue of the Succession to the Crown Act 1707. To avoid this problem, an Act of Indemnity, the Niall Macpherson Indemnity Act 1954 (2 & 3 Eliz. 2. c. 29), was passed.

Lord Drumalbyn was also chairman of the British Commonwealth Producers' Organization from 1952 and a member of the BBC General Advisory Council. In 1974 he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Family

Lord Drumalbyn married Margaret Phyllis, daughter of Julius Joseph Runge, in 1937. They had three daughters, Jean Stewart Macpherson, who married James Weatherall, Mary Stewart Macpherson, who married Philip Dudley Wilson and Howard Alvine Rees; and (Helen) Norah Macpherson (1947–1969), who died unmarried. Lady Drumalbyn died on 13 August 1979. In 1985, Lord Drumalbyn married Rita, widow of Harry Edmiston. Lord Drumalbyn died on 11 October 1987, aged 79. The title became extinct on his death as he had no sons. His widow died on 12 March 2014.

References

1. ^ thepeerage.com Niall Malcolm Stewart Macpherson, 1st and last Baron Drumalbyn
2. "No. 43156". The London Gazette. 12 November 1963. p. 9249.
3. House of Commons Hansard, 11 May 1954, column 1157.
4. House of Lords Hansard, 13 May 1954, column 594.
5. "No. 46186". The London Gazette. 18 January 1974. p. 753.
6. ^ Mosley, Charles (2003). Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 107th Edition. Crans, Switzerland: Burke’s Peerage. p. 3773.
7. Hammond, Peter W. (1998). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant: Addenda and Corrigenda. Vol. XIV. Gloucestershire, England: Sutton Publishing, Ltd. p. 838. ISBN 0-7509-0154-3.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Niall Macpherson

v t e Secretaries of state for work and pensions of the United Kingdom
Ministers of Pensions	Barnes Hodge Worthington-Evans Macpherson Tryon Roberts Tryon Roberts Tryon Hudson Ramsbotham Womersley Paling Hynd Buchanan Marquand Isaacs Heathcoat-Amory
Ministers of Social Insurance/National Insurance	Jowitt Hore-Belisha Griffiths Summerskill Peake
Ministers of Pensions and National Insurance	Peake Boyd-Carpenter Macpherson Wood Herbison
Ministers of Social Security	Herbison Hart
Secretaries of State for Social Services	Crossman Joseph Castle Ennals Jenkin Fowler Moore
Secretaries of State for Social Security	Moore Newton Lilley Harman Darling
Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions	Darling A. Smith Johnson Blunkett Hutton Hain Purnell Cooper Duncan Smith Crabb Green Gauke McVey Rudd Coffey C. Smith Stride

• 1908 births
• 1987 deaths
• People educated at Fettes College
• Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford
• Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
• Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders officers
• British Army personnel of World War II
• Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers
• Unionist Party (Scotland) MPs
• Parliamentary Secretaries to the Board of Trade
• Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
• UK MPs 1945–1950
• UK MPs 1950–1951
• UK MPs 1951–1955
• UK MPs 1955–1959
• UK MPs 1959–1964
• UK MPs who were granted peerages
• Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• Ministers in the Eden government, 1955–1957
• Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964
• Hereditary barons created by Elizabeth II