Douglas Drysdale

Background

Drysdale was born in Glasgow in October 1915, the second son of William Drysdale of Drysdales of Yoker, the pump manufacturers who supplied most of Glasgow"s shipbuilding industry.

Career

He became active in the Scottish National Party (Scottish National Party) in 1962, having moved from Glasgow first to Dunblane and then to Dollar, Clackmannanshire. In 1966, his area of responsibility was reduced to only Finance. Drysdale first stood for the Scottish National Party at the 1964 United Kingdom general election in Clackmannan and Eastern Stirlingshire, taking 12.2% of the vote and narrowly failing to hold his deposit.

At the 1966 United Kingdom general election, Drysdale increased his vote share to just over 20%, one of the Scottish National Party"s best results.

He had little support among the party"s grassroots, and was heavily defeated, 362 votes to 37. He had a major stroke in 1969, but continued to be supportive of the cause for independence as much as he could until his death in 1984.

Achievements

• He qualified as an engineer, and spent the war years with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers), achieving the rank of major and being awarded the Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire.

Politics

Despite having no previous political experience, he was elected as the Scottish National Party"s Vice Chairman with responsibility for Organisation and Finance in 1964. However, he became unhappy with the leadership of Arthur Donaldson, and in 1967 he stood for the leadership of the party against Donaldson.