Arthur Woodburn (25 October 1890 – 1 June 1978) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

Labour Party politician who was

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland (; ), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Scotland Office. The incum ...

from 1947 to 1950. Born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, he was educated at Heriot-Watt College. Imprisoned as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Woodburn worked in engineering and ironfounding administration, and was a lecturer and national secretary of the Scottish Labour College. He was Secretary of the Scottish Council of the Labour Party from 1932 to 1939, and President of the National Council of Labour Colleges from 1937 to 1965. He also served on the Edinburgh 'Hands off Russia' committee in the 1930s. Woodburn was an unsuccessful candidate for Edinburgh South in 1929 and Edinburgh Leith in 1931; he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Clackmannan and East Stirlingshire from 1939 until 1970. In Parliament he served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Tom Johnston in 1941, and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the

Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed on 1 August 1939 by the Ministry of Supply Act 1939 ( 2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 38) to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Ministe ...

from 1945 to 1947. He was

from 1947 until 1950 in the government of

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. At ...

. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1947. Woodburn received an honorary Doctorate from

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...

in 1968. He had a strong interest in economics, education, European unity, international relations, modern languages and Scottish history. He was appointed to the board of trustees of the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS; ; ) is one of Scotland's National Collections. It is one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom. As well as a public programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, and tours, the National Library of ...

in 1961 and his papers are held by the Library. In 1919, Woodburn married Barbara Halliday, a teacher who was elected to the Edinburgh Town Council.Knox, W. Scottish Labour Leaders 1918-39 p.288 He was a member of the

United Free Church of Scotland The United Free Church of Scotland (UF Church; , ) is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and the Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900), majority of the 19th-cen ...

. Woodburn died in Edinburgh on 1 June 1978, aged 87, after a car crash he was involved in when driving to visit his wife in hospital.

References

* Pentland, Gordon (ed.),
The Autobiography of Arthur Woodburn (1890–1978): Living with History
' (Boydell & Brewer for the Scottish History Society, 2017) * Torrance, David, ''The Scottish Secretaries'' (Birlinn 2006) * * * *

External links

*
National Library of Scotland catalogue of papers

National Library of Scotland additional papers
1890 births 1978 deaths Secretaries of State for Scotland British conscientious objectors Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Stirling constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951 Scottish Labour MPs UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 Scottish Presbyterians Road incident deaths in Scotland {{Scotland-Labour-UK-MP-stub