Tom Fraser

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For the English footballer, see Tommy Fraser. For people with a similar name, see Thomas Fraser.

The Right Honourable
Tom Fraser
Minister of Transport
In office
16 October 1964 – 23 December 1965
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterHarold Wilson
Preceded byErnest Marples
Succeeded byBarbara Castle
Under-Secretary of State for Scotland
In office
4 August 1945 – 26 October 1951
Served with George Buchanan, John Robertson and Margaret Herbison.
MonarchGeorge VI
Prime MinisterClement Attlee
Sec. of StateJoseph Westwood
Chairman of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board
In office
May 1967 – January 1979
Preceded byThe Lord Strathclyde
Succeeded byThe Lord Greenhill of Harrow
Member of Parliament
for Hamilton
In office
29 January 1943 – 14 October 1967
Preceded byDuncan Macgregor Graham
Succeeded byWinnie Ewing
Personal details
Born18 February 1911 (1911-02-18)
Died21 November 1988 (1988-11-22) (aged 77)
Political partyLabour

Thomas Fraser PC (18 February 1911 – 21 November 1988) was a Scottish coal miner and trade unionist, who was a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for the Hamilton constituency between 1943 and 1967.[1]

Life[edit]

He was the son of Thomas and Mary Fraser of Kirkmuirhill, Lanarkshire.[2] He was educated at Lesmahagow Higher Grade School until the age of 14, when he began work as miner, working underground until his entry to parliament.[3] The economist Sir Alec Cairncross, also a pupil at the school, remembered Fraser as "rather shy, quiet spoken, friendly and unassertive ... not a very conspicuous member of the class, nor one who ever showed the gifts one associates with a political career."[4]

Fraser served as a branch official for his union from 1938 until 1943 and, from 1939 until 1943, was secretary of the Lanark divisional Labour Party.[5] He entered parliament at the 1943 Hamilton by-election, defeating an independent candidate by over 8,000 votes and polling 81.1% of the votes cast.[6] Following the Labour Party's victory in the 1945 general election, he was appointed as Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland and held the post until his party lost power in 1951 general election.[5]

In opposition, Fraser served as Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland "for many years."[7] Following Labour's victory in the 1964 general election he served as Minister of Transport from 16 October 1964 until 23 December 1965. In December 1965 he introduced the 70 mph (113 km/h) speed limit on motorways as an emergency measure,[8] following a series of multiple low-speed crashes on motorways, mainly in fog.[9] During his tenure as minister, he authorised the closure 1,071 miles (1,724 km) of railway lines, following the recommendations from the Beeching Report, including lines, notably the Oxford to Cambridge Line, that Beeching had not considered closing.[10] On the other hand, he also rejected closure proposals for such lines as the West Highland Line between Fort William and Mallaig.[11]

In May 1967, he resigned from Parliament to become chairman of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board.[12][13] His resignation paved the way for a by-election which resulted in a historic victory for the Scottish National Party candidate, Winnie Ewing.[7]

He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1964. He later served on the Wheatley Commission and was in part responsible for the resulting reforms in Scottish local government. He retired to Lesmahagow, where he had previously been employed as a miner, and died in Law Hospital in 1988 after a brief illness.[7] When he died, one of his successors for the seat, George Robertson, noted there was still "immense respect" for him in Hamilton.[7]

Family[edit]

In 1935, Fraser married Janet Scanlon of Lesmahagow. They had a son and a daughter.[2]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "Candidates and Constituency Assessments: Hamilton South". Archived from the original on 16 August 2005.
  2. ^ a b "Fraser, Rt. Hon. Thomas". Who's Who. A & C Black. Retrieved 27 August 2021. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ Waller, Robert; Criddle, Byron (2007). The Almanac of British Politics. Taylor & Francis. pp. 592–. ISBN 978-0-415-37824-6. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  4. ^ Alec Cairncross, Living with the Century (Fife: iynx, 1999), p. 26. ISBN 0953541304
  5. ^ a b The Times House of Commons 1951. London: The Times Office. 1951. p. 201.
  6. ^ Craig, F.W.S. (1969). British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949. Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. p. 632. ISBN 978-0-900178-01-6.
  7. ^ a b c d "Ex-Minister Dies at 77". Evening Times. 22 November 1988. p. 4. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  8. ^ Harris, Walter (13 December 2005). "Politicians and the pleasures of fast cars". The Independent. Archived from the original on 26 December 2005.
  9. ^ Benson, David (1966). "Four of the reasons why there's a good time coming". The Daily Express. Archived from the original on 26 October 2009.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  10. ^ David Henshaw: The Great Railway Conspiracy. p. 165 (3rd Edition, 2013) ISBN 978-0-957651 1-0-4
  11. ^ Gourvish, Terence Richard (1986). British Railways, 1948-73: a business history. Cambridge University Press. p. 444. ISBN 0521264804. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  12. ^ Harvie, Christopher (1998). Scotland and Nationalism: Scottish Society and Politics, 1707 to the Present. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780415195249. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  13. ^ Butler, David (28 November 2005). British Political Facts Since 1979. Springer. ISBN 9780230554764. Retrieved 22 August 2017.

External links[edit]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Hamilton
1943–1967 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Transport
1964–1965 		Succeeded by


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