Hugh MacDonald (11 July 1929 – 3 December 2013), also known as Uisdean MacDonald, was a

Scottish nationalist Scottish nationalism promotes the idea that the Scottish people form a cohesive nation and national identity. Scottish nationalism began to shape from 1853 with the National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights, progressing into ...

activist. Born in the

Possilpark Possilpark, colloquially known as Possil,Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

to parents who both worked in bottling factories, MacDonald learned

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

at night school at a young age. He worked initially as an

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, then later as an advertising salesman, first for the ''

Evening Citizen The ''Evening Citizen'', was an evening version of '' The Glasgow Citizen'' (a daily newspaper founded in 1842 by James David Hedderwick). It was first published in August 1864, was one of the first of three evening newspapers to be printed, pub ...

'', then for the ''

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'' group.Hugh MacDonald,
Hugh (Uisdean) MacDonald
, '' The Herald'', 9 December 2013 MacDonald joined the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

(SNP), and was involved with various activities in the party prior to the electoral successes of the 1960s, including co-authoring the early songbooks of the Bo'ness Rebels Literary Society. He stood unsuccessfully in Glasgow Maryhill at the 1966 general election, taking 11.5% of the vote. He worked with George Leslie and Morris Blythman to develop campaign music at the

1967 Glasgow Pollok by-election The 1967 Glasgow Pollok by-election of 9 March 1967 was held after the death of Labour MP (MP) Alex Garrow:Winnie Ewing Winifred Margaret Ewing (; 10 July 1929 – 21 June 2023) was a Scottish lawyer and politician who figured prominently in the Scottish National Party. Born and raised in Glasgow, Ewing studied law at the University of Glasgow, where she joine ...

's victory in

1967 Hamilton by-election The 1967 Hamilton by-election in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland, was held on 2 November 1967. It was called after the former Labour MP, Tom Fraser, resigned in order to take up the position as head of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Boar ...

, and his house was used as a base for the party's successful campaign in the

1973 Glasgow Govan by-election The 1973 Glasgow Govan by-election was held on 8 November 1973, ''alba.org.uk'' following the death of John Rankin, Labour Party Member of Parliament for the Glasgow Govan constituency. Rankin had died one month earlier, on 8 October 1973. R ...

. He was appointed as a vice-chairman of the party in 1969, sharing responsibility for publicity with

Michael Grieve James Michael Trevlyn Grieve (28 July 1932 – 18 August 1995) was a Scottish journalist and political activist. Born in Shetland, the son of poet Hugh MacDiarmid, Grieve became a journalist, working across print and television.John Calder,Obit ...

. MacDonald's particular focus was the media, but the division of labour did not work well, and he stood down in 1972. Gordon Wilson, ''SNP: The Turbulent Years, 1960-1990 : a History of the Scottish National Party'', p.61 MacDonald next moved to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

to work in advertising for the Kayhan Newspaper Group, leaving only on the outbreak of the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

. He returned to Glasgow to work for the Rex Stewart agency, and unsuccessfully attempted to sue the

Ayatollah Khomeini Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...

for the return of possessions which he had left on fleeing Iran. Ill health compelled MacDonald to take early retirement, and he devoted his remaining years to

freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and in particular its

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

group.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Hugh 1929 births 2013 deaths Scottish Freemasons People from Possilpark Scottish National Party politicians