Malcolm MacDonald (politician)

Malcolm MacDonald

Malcolm John MacDonald (born January 17, 1901 in Lossiemouth , Moray , † January 11, 1981 in Raspit Hill , Kent ) was a British scholar and Labor Party politician .

Life

The son of former Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald was elected a Member of the House of Commons in 1929 .

As early as 1931, he became Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs . In 1935 he was first Secretary of State for the Colonies and then from 1935 to 1938 Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs . He was then again Colonial Minister until 1940 and at the same time Secretary of State for dominated areas until 1939. From 1940 to 1941 he was Minister of Health. He then became High Commissioner in Canada until 1946 .

From 1946 to 1948 he was Governor General of Malaya , Singapore and British Borneo . MacDonald was then General Commissioner in Southeast Asia until 1955. This was followed by five years as High Commissioner in India . In 1960 he was appointed head of the British delegation to the Geneva Laos Conference . At the same time he was from 1949 to 1961 Chancellor of the University of Malaya, today's National University of Singapore .

He later became Governor in 1963 and Governor General of Kenya that same year . As such, he passed power to President Jomo Kenyatta after independence was declared in 1964 . He then remained in Kenya as High Commissioner until 1965 to observe the stabilization of independence. Until 1970 he was British Prime Minister Harold Wilson's special envoy for Africa.

He was later Chancellor of the University of Durham from 1971 to 1980 . In 1980 he was succeeded by Dame Margot Fonteyn .

Award

• 1969 Order of Merit

Web links

• Literature by and about Malcolm MacDonald in the catalog of the German National Library
• Newspaper article about Malcolm MacDonald in the press kit 20th Century of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
• Short biography in rulers.org
• Speeches by MacDonald as Chancellor of the National University of Singapore