Background
Born in Ayr, the son of a train driver, he was educated at Ayr Academy and the University of Glasgow and became a schoolteacher before World World War World War II
Born in Ayr, the son of a train driver, he was educated at Ayr Academy and the University of Glasgow and became a schoolteacher before World World War World War II
University of Glasgow.
He served in the Highland Light Infantry in India, Burma and Singapore and was then a major in Lord Louis Mountbatten"s headquarters in what was then Ceylon. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Hector McNeil during his tenure as Secretary of State for Scotland and in 1954 placed an amendment to the bill on the licensing of commercial television, advocating a ban on adverts on Sundays, Good Friday and Christmas Day. After serving as Shadow Secretary of State from 1962, he became Secretary of State for Scotland in 1964 under Harold Wilson.
The Conservatives held government from 1970 to 1974, when Ross resumed his position until he lost office when Wilson resigned in 1976.
During his tenure he was responsible for the creation of the Highlands and Islands Development Board and the Scottish Development Agency, the forerunners of Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise respectively. Ross campaigned for a "Number" vote in the 1975 referendum on British membership of the European Economic Community. He was also a firm unionist, in favour of Scotland and Northern Ireland remaining in the United Kingdom, and opposed devolution.
He represented Kilmarnock until the 1979 general election, when he was created a life peer as Baron Ross of Marnock, of Kilmarnock in the District of Kilmarnock and Loudoun. "Willie" Ross was occasionally depicted by newspaper cartoonists as a boy in dungarees seated on an upturned bucket, id est (that is) as Oor Wullie.
He died of cancer in 1988.
38th United Kingdom Parliament. 39th United Kingdom Parliament. 40th United Kingdom Parliament.
41st United Kingdom Parliament.
42nd United Kingdom Parliament. 43rd United Kingdom Parliament.
44th United Kingdom Parliament. 45th United Kingdom Parliament.
46th United Kingdom Parliament.
47th United Kingdom Parliament]
He became a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1945. After unsuccessfully contesting Ayr Burghs at the 1945 general election, Ross was elected Member of Parliament for Kilmarnock in a by-election in 1946. Ross coined the term "Tartan Tories" to describe the members of the Scottish National Party, whom he very much disliked.
He was himself nicknamed "the hammer of the Nats" for his many attacks on them.