George Mackie, Baron Mackie of Benshie

The Right Honourable The Lord Mackie of Benshie CBE DSO DFC
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
In office 15 May 1974 – 17 February 2015 Life Peerage
Member of Parliament for Caithness and Sutherland
In office 16 October 1964 – 10 March 1966
Preceded by	Sir David Robertson
Succeeded by	Bob Maclennan
Personal details
Born	George Yull Mackie (1919-07-10)10 July 1919 Tarves, Scotland
Died	19 February 2015(2015-02-19) (aged 95) Dundee, Scotland
Cause of death	Stroke
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal (until 1988) Liberal Democrats (1988–2015)
Spouses	Lindsay Sharp ​ ​ (m. 1944; died 1985)​ Jacqueline Lane ​ (m. 1988)​
Children	Lindsay Jeannie Diana
Parent(s)	Maitland Mackie (father) Mary Yull (mother)
Occupation	Farmer RAF navigator Businessman
Military career
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	Royal Air Force (RAF)
Years of service	1939–1945
Rank	Squadron Leader
Unit	No. 15 Squadron RAF No. 148 Squadron RAF No. 115 Squadron RAF Air Ministry
Commands	Officers’ Squadron
Battles / wars	World War II
Awards	DFC DSO

George Yull Mackie, Baron Mackie of Benshie OBE DSO DFC (10 July 1919 – 17 February 2015) was a British Liberal and Liberal Democrat politician.

Early life

Mackie was born in Tarves, Aberdeenshire, the son of Dr Maitland Mackie, OBE, and his wife Mary (née Yull). He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and Aberdeen University. His older brothers were Sir Maitland Mackie and John Mackie, Baron John-Mackie, a future Labour MP.

In 1940 Mackie was commissioned in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He served with RAF Bomber Command and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Distinguished Flying Cross. After the Second World War, he took over a farm at Benshie, Angus, and subsequently set up a cattle ranch at Braeroy, Inverness-shire, near Spean Bridge.

Political career

Having first contested South Angus as a Liberal in 1959, he was elected Member of Parliament for Caithness and Sutherland in 1964. In the Commons he served as a Liberal party whip. He lost his seat in 1966, when he was defeated by the Labour candidate Robert Maclennan, who was to become a party colleague of Mackie in the late 1980s after he joined the Liberal Democrats via the SDP. Mackie contested Caithness and Sutherland again in 1970, but lost by a wider margin.

Having been appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1971, he was given a life peerage, as Baron Mackie of Benshie, of Kirriemuir in the County of Angus on 10 May 1974. In the House of Lords, he served as Agriculture and Scottish Affairs spokesman for the Liberals and their successor parties between 1975 and 2000. Having been chair of the Scottish Liberal Party from 1965 to 1970, he was its president between 1983 and 1988. In 1980, he was elected to serve a three-year term as Rector of the University of Dundee.

Death and legacy

Until his death, Mackie was the oldest living person to have served as a Liberal Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom. His death was announced on 17 February 2015. He was 95 years old.

Mackie's papers are held by Archive Services at the University of Dundee.

Personal life

Mackie married firstly, in 1944, Lindsay, daughter of lawyer Alexander Sharp, of Aberdeen. They had three daughters, the eldest of whom, Lindsay, married the journalist Alan Rusbridger. Mackie married secondly, in 1988, Jacqueline, daughter of Colonel Marcel Rauch, of the French Air Force.

Sources

• Parliament.uk Biography, parliament.uk; accessed 15 November 2015.
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by George Mackie