Education
Neven-Spence graduated from Edinburgh University in 1911.
Neven-Spence graduated from Edinburgh University in 1911.
Neven-Spence came from a prominent landowning family in the Shetland Islands. He served with the Royal Army Medical Corps, seconded to help the Egyptian Army and government of Sudan, and in the First World War, mainly in the Middle East. Following the war he organised a campaign to treat sleeping sickness in Darfur.
He returned to Edinburgh University to study for an Doctor of Medicine, before moving to Aldershot in 1924 to work as a specialist physician to the British Army.
He retired from the Army in 1927 with the rank of Major. Neven-Spence"s family had owned property in Shetland for several generations and he became Vice-Convenor of Zetland County Council.
Neven-Spence first contested the Orkney and Shetland constituency in 1929, stepping down as candidate ahead of the 1931 election. He was knighted in 1945 and served as a vice-Lieutenant of Scotland.
He once lived on the island of Uyea.
Basil Saint Clair Neven-Spence, Sir Basil"s son, served in the Colonial Office following serving in World World War World War II Basil Saint Clair committed suicide at the age of 22, after having been assigned to the island of Tanna in the New Hebrides.
37th United Kingdom Parliament. 38th United Kingdom Parliament.