John MacCormick

John MacDonald MacCormick (Gaelic: Iain Dòmhnallach MacCormaig; 20 November 1904 - 13 October 1961) was a lawyer and advocate of Home Rule in Scotland.

Early life

He began in politics as a member of the Glasgow University Labour Club, before deciding to help form the Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association (GUSNA) in 1927. MacCormick was often known by his nickname "King John", which he said came from a heckle during a debate he was participating in when upon a question from the floor whether a devolved Scotland would retain the monarchy or be a republic someone interjected and said that, "no, it will be a kingdom and John MacCormick will be our king."

He then helped to form the National Party of Scotland in 1928 before leading them into a merger with the Scottish Party in 1934 to found the modern Scottish National Party (SNP). He resigned from the party in 1942 following his failure to persuade the party to adopt a devolutionist stance rather than supporting all out Scottish independence and due to the victory of Douglas Young over his favoured candidate William Power for the chairmanship of the party. Along with a number of dissatisfied delegates to that year's SNP conference he established a Scottish Convention (not to be confused with a 1990s of the same name to campaign for home rule for Scotland and later formed the Scottish Covenant Association.

Later MacCormick also took the decision to join the Liberal Party as he viewed them as being the party most closely allied to his devolutionist ambitions for Scotland.

He stood for parliament at Inverness unsuccessfully on three occasions, in 1931 as a candidate for the National Party of Scotland , in 1935 as a candidate for the Scottish National Party and in 1945 as a candidate for the Liberal Party. In 1937 he was the unsuccessful Scottish National Party candidate in the Glasgow Hillhead by-election.

His last attempt to enter parliament came at the 1959 General Election, when he stood for the Liberal Party at Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles, again finishing second.

Personal life

MacCormick was survived by two sons. The first, Iain, served as SNP Member of Parliament for Argyll from 1974 till 1979 (and was a founder member of the Social Democratic Party in 1981), and his second son Neil was Professor of Law and Vice-Principal of the University of Edinburgh and elected an SNP Member of the European Parliament in 1999. His family came from Mull, and he was related to the Scottish Gaelic novelist of the same name.

Later events

He was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow in 1950 as GUSNA's candidate, serving until 1953; he was also awarded a honorary Doctorate of Laws by the university in 1951. This association with GUSNA also saw the formation of a political friendship with a then young law student at Glasgow University, Ian Hamilton, who had run his campaign to be elected rector.

He was involved, along with Hamilton, in the removal of the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1950 and its return to Arbroath Abbey. He was also responsible, again along with Hamilton, for MacCormick v. Lord Advocate, the constitutional challenge over Queen Elizabeth using the title the second, rather than the first in Scotland—there having been no Elizabeth I of Scotland.

In the 1951 he formed the Scottish Covenant Association, a non-partizan political organisation which campaigned to secure the establishment of a devolved Scottish Assembly. This covenant was hugely successful in securing support from across the political spectrum as well as in capturing the Scottish public's imagination (over 2 million signed a petition demanding the convocation of an Assembly). However, in the longrun it proved unsuccessful in establishing the Assembly MacCormick so craved, and it would not be until nearly 40 years after his death until Home Rule would be secured.

In 1955 MacCormick had a book detailing his activities in the home rule movement published, entitled The Flag in the Wind.