Walter Elliot (Scottish politician)

Walter Elliot
Eliot in 1923
Minister of Health
In office
16 May 1938 – 13 May 1940
Prime MinisterNeville Chamberlain
Winston Churchill
Preceded bySir Kingsley Wood
Succeeded byMalcolm MacDonald
Secretary of State for Scotland
In office
29 October 1936 – 6 May 1938
Prime MinisterStanley Baldwin
Neville Chamberlain
Preceded bySir Godfrey Collins
Succeeded byJohn Colville
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
In office
28 September 1932 – 29 October 1936
Prime MinisterRamsay MacDonald
Stanley Baldwin
Preceded bySir John Gilmour
Succeeded byWilliam Morrison
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
In office
24 August 1931 – 29 September 1932
Prime MinisterRamsay MacDonald
Preceded byFrederick Pethick-Lawrence
Succeeded byLeslie Hore-Belisha
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland
In office
26 July 1926 – 7 June 1929
Prime MinisterStanley Baldwin
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byTim Johnston
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health for Scotland
In office
11 November 1924 – 26 July 1926
Prime MinisterStanley Baldwin
Preceded byJames Stewart
Succeeded byOffice renamed
In office
15 January 1923 – 23 January 1924
Prime MinisterStanley Baldwin
Preceded byJames Kidd
Succeeded byJames Stewart
Personal details
Born(1888-09-19)19 September 1888
Lanark, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Died8 January 1958(1958-01-08) (aged 69)
Bonchester Bridge, Roxburghshire, Scotland
Political partyUnionist
Other political
affiliations
Conservative
Spouses
Helen Hamilton
(m. 1919; died 1919)
(m. 1934)
Alma materUniversity of Glasgow
MB ChB 1913
DSc 1923
Military career
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service / branch British Army
Years of service1914–1941
RankColonel
UnitRoyal Army Medical Corps
Royal Scots Greys
Battles / wars
AwardsMilitary Cross and bar

Walter Elliot Elliot (19 September 1888 – 8 January 1958) was a politician of Scotland's Unionist Party prominent in the interwar period. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1918, and besides an interval of months in 1923–24 and 1945–46, remained in parliament until his death. His Cabinet roles were as the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in the National Government (1931–1935) of Ramsay MacDonald; as the Secretary of State for Scotland in the National Government (1935–1937) of Stanley Baldwin; and as Minister of Health in Neville Chamberlain's National Government (1937–1939) and the short-lived Chamberlain war ministry.

While in medical training at university he was President of the Glasgow University Union and served in the First World War, winning the Military Cross on two occasions. In the course of his career he was Member of Parliament for the constituencies of Lanark, Glasgow Kelvingrove, and Combined Scottish Universities. He was also Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Rector of the University of Aberdeen, and Rector of the University of Glasgow.