Archibald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso

Template:Redirect Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English {{#invoke:infobox|infoboxTemplate | bodyclass = vcard | bodystyle = {{#if:|width: {{{mainwidth}}}}} | child = {{{embed}}}

| abovestyle = font-size: 100%;

| above = {{#if:The Right Honourable|

The Right Honourable

}}

{{#if:The Viscount Thurso|The Viscount Thurso|Template:PAGENAMEBASE}}

{{#if:KT CMG PC|

KT CMG PC

}}

| subheaderstyle = font-size:125%; font-weight:bold;

| subheader = {{#ifeq:{{{embed}}}|yes||{{#if:|{{#if:|

}}{{{native_name}}}{{#if:|

}}}}}}

| image = {{#invoke:InfoboxImage|InfoboxImage|image=The Air Ministry, 1939-1945. CH10270 – Edit 1.jpg|size=|sizedefault=frameless|upright=1|alt=|suppressplaceholder=yes}} | image2 = {{#invoke:InfoboxImage|InfoboxImage|image=|size=|sizedefault=frameless|upright=1|alt=|suppressplaceholder=yes}} | image3 = {{#invoke:InfoboxImage|InfoboxImage|image=|sizedefault=frameless|upright=1|alt=|suppressplaceholder=yes}} | captionstyle = line-height:normal;padding-top:0.2em; | caption{{#if:|3|{{#if:|2}}}} = Archibald Sinclair as Secretary of State for Air during World War II

| headerstyle = color: #202122; {{#ifeq:{{{embed}}}|yes|background:#eee|background:lavender}}

| data2 = | header3 = {{#if:Archibald Henry Macdonald SinclairTemplate:Birth-date Chelsea, London, England or Caithness, ScotlandTemplate:Death-date and age Twickenham, London, EnglandLiberal Template:Marriage Royal Military College, Sandhurst|Personal details}} | label4 = Pronunciation | data4 =

| label5 = Born | data5 = {{#invoke:Separated entries|br

|1 = {{#if:Archibald Henry Macdonald Sinclair|

Archibald Henry Macdonald Sinclair

}}

|2 = Template:Birth-date
|3 = Chelsea, London, England or Caithness, Scotland
}}

| label6 = Died | data6 = {{#invoke:Separated entries|br|Template:Death-date and age|Twickenham, London, England}}

| label7 = {{#ifexpr: Template:Strfind short

   | Manner |{{#if:|Manner|Cause}} }} of death

| data7 = {{#if:||}}

| label8 = Resting place | class8 = label | data8 = {{#invoke:Separated entries|br||}}

| label9 = Citizenship | data9 =

| label10 = Nationality | data10 = {{#switch:{{#invoke:delink|delink|}} | {{#ifeq:Template:Country2nationality|{{#invoke:delink|delink|}}|{{#invoke:delink|delink|}}}} = | {{#ifeq:Template:Find country|England|British}} = | #default = }}

| label11 = Political party | data11 = {{#switch:Liberal | = | Democrat | Democratic | Democrat = Democratic | Republican | United States Republican Party | Republican | Republican Party = Republican | Conservative Party | Conservative = Conservative | Labour Party | Labour = Labour | Conservative Party | Conservative = Conservative | Liberal Party | Liberal = Liberal | KMT | Kuomintang | KMT | KMT | Kuomintang | Kuomintang (KMT) | Kuomintang (KMT) = Kuomintang | DPP | DPP | Democratic Progressive Party = Democratic Progressive Party | #default = Liberal }}

| label12 = Other political
affiliations | data12 =

| label13 = Height | data13 = {{#if:|Template:Infobox person/height}}

| label14 = Spouse{{#if:|s|{{#invoke:Detect singular|pluralize|Template:Marriage|likely=(s)|plural=s}}}} | data14 = Template:Marriage

| label15 = Domestic partner{{#invoke:Detect singular|pluralize||likely=(s)|plural=s}} | data15 =

| label16 = Relations | data16 =

| label17 = Children | data17 =

| label18 = Parent{{#if:|{{#invoke:Detect singular|pluralize||likely=(s)|plural=s}}|{{#ifexpr:Template:Count > 1|s}}}} | data18 = {{#if:|{{{parents}}}|{{#invoke:list|unbulleted|{{#if:|{{{father}}} (father)}}|{{#if:|{{{mother}}} (mother)}}}}}}

| label19 = Relatives | data19 =

| label20 = Residence{{#invoke:Detect singular|pluralize||likely=(s)|plural=s}} | class20 = {{#if:Template:Death-date and age Twickenham, London, England||label}} | data20 =

| label21 = Education | data21 =

| label22 = Alma mater | data22 = Royal Military College, Sandhurst

| label23 = Occupation | data23 =

| label24 = Profession | data24 =

| label25 = Known for | data25 =

| label26 = Salary | data26 =

| label27 = Cabinet | data27 =

| label28 = Committees | data28 =

| label29 = Portfolio | data29 =

| label30 = {{#if:|Civilian awards|Awards}} | data30 =

| label31 = {{{blank1}}} | data31 =

| label32 = {{{blank2}}} | data32 =

| label33 = {{{blank3}}} | data33 =

| label34 = {{{blank4}}} | data34 =

| label35 = {{{blank5}}} | data35 =

| label36 = Signature | data36 = {{#if:Archibald_Sinclair_Signature.png|Archibald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso's signature}}

| label37 = Website | data37 =

| label38 = Nickname{{#invoke:Detect singular|pluralize||likely=(s)|plural=s}} | data38 =

| header39 = {{#if:|Military service}}

| label40 = Allegiance | data40 =

| label41 = {{#if:||Branch/service}} | data41 =

| label42 = {{#if:||Years of service}} | data42 =

| label43 = {{#if:||Rank}} | data43 =

| label44 = {{#if:||Unit}} | data44 =

| label45 = Commands | data45 =

| label46 = {{#if:||Battles/wars}} | data46 =

| label47 = {{#if:|Military awards|Awards}} | data47 =

| label48 = {{{military_blank1}}} | data48 =

| label49 = {{{military_blank2}}} | data49 =

| label50 = {{{military_blank3}}} | data50 =

| label51 = {{{military_blank4}}} | data51 =

| label52 = {{{military_blank5}}} | data52 =

| below =

{{#if:| As of {{{date}}}{{#if:|, {{{year}}}}}}}

{{#if:|Source: [{{{source}}}]}}

}}{{#if:|{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}} }}{{#if:|{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}} }}{{#if:|{{#if:||{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}}}} }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| regexp1 = 1blankname[%d]* | regexp2 = 1namedata[%d]* | regexp3 = 2blankname[%d]* | regexp4 = 2namedata[%d]* | regexp5 = 3blankname[%d]* | regexp6 = 3namedata[%d]* | regexp7 = 4blankname[%d]* | regexp8 = 4namedata[%d]* | regexp9 = 5blankname[%d]* | regexp10 = 5namedata[%d]* | allegiance | alma_mater | regexp11 = alongside[%d]* | alt | regexp12 = ambassador_from[%d]* | regexp13 = appointed[%d]* | regexp14 = appointer[%d]* | regexp15 = assembly[%d]* | awards | battles | battles_label | birth_date | birth_name | birth_place | birthname | regexp16 = blank[%d]* | bodyclass | branch | branch_label | cabinet | candidate | caption | categories | regexp17 = chancellor[%d]* | children | citizenship | regexp18 = co%-leader[%d]* | commands | committees | regexp19 = constituency[%d]* | regexp20 = constituency_AM[%d]* | regexp21 = constituency_MP[%d]* | regexp22 = convocation[%d]* | regexp23 = country[%d]* | regexp24 = data[%d]* | date | death_cause | death_date | death_manner | death_place | demo | regexp25 = deputy[%d]* | regexp26 = district[%d]* | education | election_date | embed | father | regexp28 = firstminister[%d]* | footnotes | regexp29 = governor[%d]* | regexp30 = governor_general[%d]* | regexp31 = governor%-general[%d]* | height | honorific_prefix | honorific-prefix | honorific_suffix | honorific-suffix | image | image name | image_name_alt | image_size | imagesize | image_upright | incumbent | regexp32 = jr/sr[%d]* | regexp33 = jr/sr and state[%d]* | known_for | regexp34 = leader[%d]* | regexp35 = legislature[%d]* | regexp36 = lieutenant[%d]* | regexp37 = lieutenant_governor[%d]* | mainwidth | regexp38 = majority[%d]* | regexp39 = majority_floor_leader[%d]* | regexp40 = majority_leader[%d]* | regexp41 = majorityleader[%d]* | mawards | regexp42 = military_blank[%d]* | regexp43 = military_data[%d]* | regexp44 = minister[%d]* | regexp45 = minister_from[%d]* | regexp46 = minority_floor_leader[%d]* | regexp47 = minority_leader[%d]* | regexp48 = minorityleader[%d]* | regexp49 = module[%d]* | regexp50 = monarch[%d]* | mother | name | nationality | native_name | native_name_lang | nickname | nocat | regexp51 = nominator[%d]* | nominee | occupation | regexp52 = office[%d]* | opponent | regexp53 = order[%d]* | otherparty | parents | regexp54 = parliament[%d]* | regexp55 = parliamentarygroup[%d]* | partner | party | party_election | portfolio | regexp56 = preceded[%d]* | regexp57 = preceding[%d]* | regexp58 = predecessor[%d]* | regexp59 = premier[%d]* | regexp60 = president[%d]* | regexp61 = primeminister[%d]* | regexp62 = prior_term[%d]* | profession | pronunciation | rank | rank_label | relations | relatives | residence | resting_place | resting_place_coordinates | restingplace | restingplacecoordinates | regexp63 = riding[%d]* | runningmate | salary | serviceyears | serviceyears_label | signature | signature_alt | signature_size | smallimage | smallimage_alt | source | speaker | speaker_office | spouse | spouses | regexp64 = state[%d]* | regexp65 = state_assembly[%d]* | regexp66 = state_delegate[%d]* | regexp67 = state_house[%d]* | regexp68 = state_legislature[%d]* | regexp69 = state_senate[%d]* | regexp70 = status[%d]* | regexp71 = suboffice[%d]* | regexp72 = subterm[%d]* | regexp73 = succeeded[%d]* | regexp74 = succeeding[%d]* | regexp75 = successor[%d]* | regexp76 = taoiseach[%d]* | regexp77 = term[%d]* | regexp78 = term_end[%d]* | regexp79 = term_label[%d]* | regexp80 = term_start[%d]* | regexp81 = termend[%d]* | regexp82 = termlabel[%d]* | regexp83 = termstart[%d]* | regexp84 = title[%d]* | unit | unit_label | regexp85 = vicegovernor[%d]* | regexp86 = vicepremier[%d]* | regexp87 = vicepresident[%d]* | regexp88 = viceprimeminister[%d]* | regexp89 = assuming[%d]* | website | width | year }} Archibald Henry Macdonald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso, Template:Post-nominals (22 October 1890 – 15 June 1970), known as Sir Archibald Sinclair between 1912 and 1952, and often as Archie Sinclair, was a British politician and leader of the Liberal Party.<ref>Full coverage of his career appears in Gerard DeGroot, Liberal Crusader: The Life of Sir Archibald Sinclair (New York University Press, 1993).</ref>

Background and educationEdit

Sinclair was born in 1890 in Caithness, Scotland.<ref name = NYT>Template:Cite news</ref> Sinclair was the son Clarence Granville Sinclair, and his American wife Mabel Sands, daughter of Mahlon Day Sands, and half-sister of Ethel Sands. His mother died shortly after his birth, and his father in 1895. He was brought up in families including those of his paternal grandfather Sir Tollemache Sinclair, 3rd Baronet, his uncle William Macdonald Sinclair, and Owen Williams, married to his aunt Nina.<ref name ="ODNB">Template:Cite ODNB</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Sinclair was commissioned into the Life Guards in 1910. In 1912, he succeeded his grandfather as the fourth Baronet of Ulbster.<ref name ="ODNB"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He became one of the largest landowners in the United Kingdom, owning an estate of about Template:Convert in Caithness.<ref name ="ODNB"/> His recreations included polo and flying: he was a keen aviator. At this period he made a friend of Winston Churchill.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Wrigley">Template:Cite book</ref>

Colin Coote in his memoirs wrote of Sinclair's "irresistible charm, allied to the face and figure of an Adonis".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The handsome Sinclair was at this period thought of as a possible husband for Nellie Hozier, younger sister of Clementine Churchill.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Military careerEdit

File:WinstonChurchill1916Army.gif

Major Archibald Sinclair, seated to the left, with Commanding Officer Winston Churchill 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers officers in 1916

Sinclair served on the Western Front during World War I, in 1915 as aide de camp to J. E. B. Seely who commanded the Canadian Cavalry Brigade. He rose to the rank of Major in the Guards Machine Gun Regiment.<ref name ="ODNB"/>

After Winston Churchill resigned as First Lord of the Admiralty, Sinclair served as his second-in-command when Churchill took up command at the beginning of 1916 of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. Churchill arranged the transfer with Douglas Haig, who turned down the request that Seely should be moved too, and also refused him Edward Spears.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> They were stationed in the Ploegsteert Wood sector of the Western Front.<ref name ="ODNB"/>

Working with ChurchillEdit

From 1919 to 1921 Sinclair served as Personal Military Secretary to Churchill, when he returned to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for War, and then accompanied him to the Colonial Office as Private Secretary.<ref name ="ODNB"/>

Sinclair's duties included acting as liaison for Churchill with the Secret Intelligence Service. He had dealings with George Alexander Hill and Malcolm Wollcombe, agent in the Soviet Union for Mansfield Smith-Cumming. Stewart Menzies who had the official liaison role at the War Office was a personal friend. Sinclair collated humint and technical intelligence for Churchill, for example on Leonid Krasin. He also assisted in the delicate handling of Boris Savinkov, who was brought to London.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was Sinclair who introduced the prominent British agent Sidney Reilly to Nikolai Alekseyev, intelligence chief of the White Russian leader Alexander Guchkov.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Political career 1922–1939Edit

In 1922, Sinclair entered the House of Commons as a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Caithness and Sutherland,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> supporting David Lloyd George and defeating the incumbent Liberal supporter of H. H. Asquith. He rose through the Liberal ranks as the party shrank in Parliament, becoming Chief Whip by 1930.<ref Name ="ODNB"/> At this period he worked on land policy with Lloyd George, including the "Tartan Book" that addressed Scottish devolution.<ref name="Wrigley"/><ref name="DLB">Template:Cite book</ref>

In July 1931, a meeting took place at Sinclair's house, where Oswald Mosley and Harold Nicolson met Churchill, Lloyd George and Brendan Bracken, to discuss a political alliance.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> About a month later, the Liberal Party joined the National Government of Ramsay MacDonald, with Sinclair appointed Secretary of State for Scotland.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He was sworn of the Privy Council at the same time.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> In 1932, he, together with other Liberal ministers led by Herbert Samuel, resigned from the government in protest at the Ottawa Conference introducing Imperial Preference.<ref name="Wrigley"/><ref name="DLB"/>

In the 1935 general election, Herbert Samuel lost his seat, and Sinclair became the Liberal Party's leader at the head of 20 MPs. During the Abdication Crisis of 1936, his name was put forward as a possible leader of a government that might be formed if Edward VIII held onto the throne against the wishes of the Baldwin administration. Churchill came to support the King's position, and Lord Beaverbrook entertained the idea of Sinclair as Prime Minister. Both Clement Attlee for Labour and Sinclair for the Liberals, however, in late November ruled out forming a government under those circumstances.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Sinclair consistently opposed the continental dictatorships and kept the National Liberals at arms length.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He supported the League of Nations and collective security. He backed, as did Attlee, Churchill's book Arms and the Covenant.<ref name="DLB"/> He joined the Anti-Nazi Council of Eugen Spier, with Churchill and Violet Bonham Carter, Margaret Bondfield and Hugh Dalton.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Public opinion at this point of the later 1930s by no means agreed, and John Alfred Spender attacked Sinclair in The Times on foreign policy, claiming that he, like the League of Nations Union, wished for war with the Axis Powers.<ref name="DLB"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

At the time of the Munich Crisis in September 1938, Sinclair was one of the anti-appeasement group who gathered around Churchill, with Leo Amery, Robert Boothby, Robert Cecil, Harold Macmillan and Harold Nicolson.Template:Sfn During parliamentary debate over the Munich Agreement he attacked Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain for "wilting" to Nazi Germany and tossing "justice and respect for treaties... to the winds."Template:Sfn On a personal level, Violet Bonham Carter was a frequent guest of the Sinclairs at Dalnawillan Lodge in the Flow Country, as were Harcourt Johnstone and Lady Gwendoline Churchill, wife of Jack Churchill and Winston's sister-in-law.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Bonham Carter was a Liberal activist, close follower of Churchill, anti-appeaser and League of Nations Union member.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Second World WarEdit

When Churchill formed an all-party coalition government in 1940, Sinclair entered the cabinet as Secretary of State for Air. During the May 1940 British war cabinet crisis after the fall of France he sided with Churchill against Lord Halifax's plan to seek a negotiated settlement with Nazi Germany mediated by Fascist Italy.Template:Sfn

Sinclair's first task was to work with the Royal Air Force in planning the Battle of Britain. Towards the end of the war, he found himself at odds with Churchill, arguing against Bomber Harris' strategy for the Bombing of Dresden and other German cities.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was not a strong political personality: Max Hastings reports that he was often regarded as the "Head of School's fag" to Churchill, and as the political mouthpiece rather than the master of Air Chief Marshals Portal and Harris.Template:Sfn However, in 1942 he did convince Churchill and his cabinet not to carry out reprisals on German villages for war atrocities such as the Lidice massacre.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Sinclair remained a minister until May 1945, when the coalition ended. In the 1945 general election, he lost his seat. His margin of defeat was narrow: he came in third place, with the victor Eric Gandar Dower having 61 votes more.<ref Name ="ODNB"/>

Last yearsEdit

At the 1950 general election, Sinclair again stood for his old seat, coming second. In 1952, the year of his first stroke, he accepted elevation to the House of Lords as Viscount Thurso of Ulbster in the County of Caithness.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> A more serious stroke in 1959 left him largely bedridden and in a state of precarious health, until he died at his home in Twickenham in 1970.<ref name = NYT/><ref> Template:Cite news</ref>

FamilyEdit

File:INF3-63 Sir Archibald Sinclair Artist E.A.B.jpg

Sketch of Sinclair commissioned by the Ministry of Information in the World War II period

In 1918 Sinclair married Marigold Forbes (1897–1975), daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel James Stewart Forbes and Lady Angela Forbes. They had four children:

Catherine (1919–2007), married 1957 Kazimierz Zielenkiewicz.<ref name="Debrett">Template:Cite book</ref>
Elizabeth (1921–1994), married in 1942 Archibald Michael Lyle, son of Sir Archibald Lyle, 2nd Baronet, and was mother of Veronica Linklater.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Robin (1922–1995), married 1952 Margaret Beaumont Robertson, and was father of John Sinclair, 3rd Viscount Thurso<ref name="Debrett"/>
Angus John (1925–2003), married firstly in 1955 Pamela Karen Bower, daughter of Dallas Bower (dissolved 1967), secondly in 1968 Judith Anne Percy (dissolved 1992), thirdly in 1992 Kate Fry.<ref name="Debrett"/>

LegacyEdit

The Southern Railway named a Battle of Britain Class Light Pacific steam locomotive "Sir Archibald Sinclair". The ceremonial naming of the locomotive was performed by Sir Archibald himself at Waterloo station on 24 February 1948. The SR number of the locomotive was 21C159 and its British Railways number was 34059.

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

BibliographyEdit

Template:Cite book
Violet Bonham Carter, ed. Mark Pottle, Champion Redoubtable: The Diaries of Violet Bonham Carter 1914–1945 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998).
Gerard DeGroot, Liberal Crusader: The Life of Sir Archibald Sinclair (New York University Press, 1993).
Template:Cite book
ed. Ian Hunter, Winston and Archie: The collected correspondence of Winston Churchill and Sir Archibald Sinclair (Politico's, 2005).
Torrance, David, The Scottish Secretaries (Birlinn 2006).

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project

Template:Hansard-contribs
Sir Archibald Sinclair (Viscount Thurso) 1890–1970 biography from the Liberal Democrat History Group
Template:PM20
The Papers of Archibald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso held at Churchill Archives Centre

Template:S-start Template:S-par Template:Succession box Template:S-off Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-ppo Template:Succession box Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-vac Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-new Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-hon Template:Succession box Template:S-aca Template:Succession box Template:S-reg Template:Succession box Template:S-reg Template:S-new Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-end

Template:UKLiberalLeaders Template:Secretaries of State for Scotland

Template:Authority control