Sir John McEwen, 1st Baronet

Sir John Helias Finnie McEwen, 1st Baronet (21 June 1894 – 19 April 1962), was a Scottish Unionist politician.

Family

Sir John McEwen was the son of Robert Finnie McEwen of Marchmont, Berwickshire, and Bardrochat, F.S.A.Scot., Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for Berwickshire, by Mary Frances, daughter of R.H.D. Dundas. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, and served in the Cameron Highlanders in the First World War, being promoted Captain in 1915. He transferred to the Royal Army Flying Corps and was later a prisoner of war. After the war he joined the Diplomatic Service, and in 1920 was 3rd Secretary; 2nd Secretary in 1925, serving in the London Foreign Office, Athens and Rome.

Political career

He contested the seat of Berwick-upon-Tweed and Haddington for the Unionist Party in the 1929 General Election but failed. However two years later he was elected to the House of Commons as Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Berwick and Haddington at the 1931 general election, and held the seat until 1945, when his attempt to be relected failed. He served under Neville Chamberlain as Assistant Government Whip 1938-39, Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from 1939 to 1940, and under Winston Churchill as a Lord of the Treasury from 1942 to 1944. He was Chairman of the Conservative Members' Committee in the House of Commons December 1944 - June 1945. In 1953 he was created a Baronet, of Marchmont in the County of Berwick and Bardrochat in the County of Ayr.

McEwen married in 1923, Brigid Mary, daughter of Sir Francis Oswald Lindley, and they had seven children one of whom, the only daughter, was Christian Mary McEwen who married Frederick Fermor-Hesketh, 2nd Baron Hesketh. The family were brought up at Marchmont House on the east side of the small town of Greenlaw, Scotland.

He died in April 1962, aged 67, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son James.

References

• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
• Leigh Rayment's list of baronets
• Lundy, Darryl. "FAQ". The Peerage. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)