James Douglas-Hamilton, Baron Selkirk of Douglas
James Douglas-Hamilton, Baron Selkirk of Douglas,
PC,
QC (born
31 July 1942), briefly
11th Earl of Selkirk and styled
The Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (he is the younger son of the
14th Duke of Hamilton and Brandon) 1942-1997, is a
Scottish Conservative &
Unionist Member of the Scottish Parliament for the
Lothians.
Educated at
Eton and
Balliol College, Oxford, and at
Edinburgh University, he served as an advocate and an interim Procurator Fiscal Depute from 1968 to 1972. From 1972 to 1974 he was a councillor on Edinburgh District Council, and from 1974 to 1997 was
Member of Parliament for
Edinburgh West. During this time he served as a junior Minister in the
Scottish Office. He was appointed a
Privy Counsellor and
Queen's Counsel in 1996.
In
1994 on the death of
10th Earl of Selkirk there was a disputed succession to the title. Due to the terms of the
Peerage Act 1963 Selkirk could not vote in the
House of Commons until he disclaimed his potential title. As the
Conservative Government had a wafer thin majority he felt obligated to disclaim immediately. In
1997, he was elevated to the House of Lords as a
life peer, being created
Baron Selkirk of Douglas, of Cramond in the City of Edinburgh.
Since 1999 he has been a member of the
Scottish Parliament and is currently deputy Convener of the Education Committee. In November 2005, Lord Selkirk announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2003-2007 session of the
Scottish Parliament. He will continue to sit in the House of Lords, taking a particular interest in UK legislation as it affects Scotland. [
1]
Lord Selkirk has written a number of books, including
Motive For a Mission: The Story Behind Hess's Flight to Britain about his father's meeting with
Rudolph Hess when he landed in Scotland during
World War IIHamilton House*
Scottish Parliament biography
