Gordon Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor

Gordon Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor PC (born May 27, 1888 in Gwaenysgor , Prestatyn , Flintshire , North Wales , Wales , † January 20, 1966 in Prestatyn, Wales) was a British politician of the Labor Party , who was among other things its last chairman the British Government Commission and thus de facto Governor of Newfoundland and Paymaster General .

Life

Miners, trade unionists and MPs

Macdonald, son of a Scottish miner and a Welsh mother, began working as a miner in a mine in Ashton-in-Makerfield at the age of thirteen after attending elementary school in 1901 . With financial support through a scholarship , however, he was able to study at Ruskin College .

In 1920 he was in Wigan a member of the so-called Board of Guardians elected, a body that the implementation and review of 1834 introduced Poor Law ( Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 was established). Subsequently, he was in 1934, first Chairman of the Cooperative in Wigan and soon official of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the British trade union of miners.

In the general election of May 30, 1929 , Macdonald was elected as a Labor Party candidate for the first time to be a member of the House of Commons , where he represented the constituency of Ince until July 9, 1942 . During his membership in parliament he was whip the Labor faction in the lower house between 1931 and 1934 . After he resigned his mandate in the House of Commons in July 1942, he became an employee in the Ministry of Fuel and Power and there responsible regional controller for Lancashire , Cheshire and North Wales.

Paymaster General and Member of the House of Lords

After the Second World War he became the last chairman of the British Government Commission of Newfoundland in January 1946 and in this capacity initiated Newfoundland's accession to the Canadian Confederation in 1949.

He was then from 1949 to 1951 Paymaster General in the extended cabinet of Prime Minister Clement Attlee . In 1949 he was raised to the nobility as a baron with the title of 1st Baron Macdonald of Gwaensygor and as such was a member of the House of Lords until his death . During this time he represented Great Britain at several international conferences such as the General Assembly of the United Nations in Lake Success .

In 1952 Macdonald, who spoke fluent Welsh , became a member of the BBC Board of Governors as representative of Wales and served on that board of directors of the British Broadcasting Corporation until 1960. In addition, he was from 1953 until his death in 1966 also chairman of the Council for Wales , a body of the BBC, which should consider the interests and wishes of listeners and television viewers in Wales and the BBC should submit. In addition, he was active 1952-1959 in the Colonial Development Corporation (CDC), an organization in the field of development aid in the British colonies .

He has also received honorary doctorates from Mount Allison University and the University of Wales . After his death, he was followed by his son of the same name, Gordon Macdonald, as the second Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor.

Web links

• Gordon Macdonald at Hansard (English)
• Entry in They Work For You

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor 1949–1966	Gordon MacDonald