Patrick Buchan-Hepburn, 1st Baron Hailes

Patrick George Thomas Buchan-Hepburn, 1st Baron Hailes, GBE, CH, PC (2 April 1901 – 5 November 1974)[1] was a British Conservative politician and the only Governor-General of the short-lived West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962.

The Right Honourable
The Lord Hailes
GBE CH PC
Governor-General of the
West Indies Federation
In office
3 January 1958 – 31 May 1962
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterGrantley Herbert Adams
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Personal details
Born(1901-04-02)2 April 1901
Died5 November 1974(1974-11-05) (aged 73)
Alma materTrinity College

Background and education

Buchan-Hepburn was the youngest son of Sir Archibald Buchan-Hepburn, 4th Baronet (see Buchan-Hepburn baronets) and his wife Edith Agnes (née Karslake). He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge.[2]

Career

Buchan-Hepburn was a personal secretary to Winston Churchill and a London County Councillor. Having stood unsuccessfully for election as a Member of Parliament (MP) in Wolverhampton East at the 1929 general election,[3] he became MP for the East Toxteth division of Liverpool following a by-election in February 1931.[1][4] In 1939, he was appointed a Parliamentary Whip for the Conservative Party and a Lord of the Treasury. During World War II, he served in the military.

Returning to politics in 1945, Buchan-Hepburn became Deputy Whip and then, in 1948, Chief Whip. He was elected MP for the newly created Beckenham constituency in Kent[5] after his East Toxteth constituency was abolished by boundary changes before the 1950 general election. From 1951 to 1955, he was Government Chief Whip and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury. In 1957, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Hailes of Prestonkirk in the County of East Lothian.[6] Lord Hailes was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in September 1957.[7]

When, in 1958, the West Indies Federation was formed in response to complaints against British colonialism in the Caribbean, Lord Hailes was appointed the Federation's first Governor-General and relocated to Port of Spain on the island of Trinidad. Four years later, the new state was dissolved and he returned to England, where he served as Chairman of the Historic Buildings Council (a predecessor of English Heritage, formally known as the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England).

In the 1962 Birthday Honours Lord Hailes was appointed a Companion of Honour.[8]

Personal life

Buchan-Hepburn married Diana Mary, daughter of Brigadier-General the Hon. Charles Lambton and war widow of Major William Hedworth Williamson, in 1945. They had no children. He was step-father to Diana's son, Sir Nicholas Frederick Hedworth Williamson, 11th Baronet.

Buchan-Hepburn died in November 1974, aged 73, whence his barony became extinct.[2]

Footnotes
  1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 1)
  2. thepeerage.com Patrick George Thomas Buchan-Hepburn, 1st and last Baron Hailes
  3. Craig, op. cit. page, page 281
  4. Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 173. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
  5. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)
  6. "No. 41003". The London Gazette. 15 February 1957. p. 1044.
  7. "No. 41187". The London Gazette. 27 September 1957. p. 5636.
  8. "No. 42683". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1962. p. 4331.
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