David Lindsay, 28th Earl of Crawford


David Alexander Robert Lindsay, 28th Earl of Crawford and 11th Earl of Balcarres, , known as Lord Balniel from 1913 to 1940, was a British Unionist politician.

Life

Lindsay was born at 49 Moray Place in western Edinburgh on 20 November 1900, the eldest son of the 27th Earl of Crawford and 10th Earl of Balcarres and his wife, Constance Lilian Perry.
He was educated at Eton, graduated from Magdalen College, Oxford in 1922 and entered the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Lonsdale two years later, at the 1924 general election. He held his seat until he succeeded to his father's titles in May 1940 and was also Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1924 and to the Ministry of Health from 1931–40.
In 1951, Lord Crawford was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the Arts, having been a trustee of the Tate Gallery from 1932–37, the National Gallery from 1935–41, 1945–52 and 1953–60, the British Museum from 1940–73 and a member of the Standing Commission on Museums and Galleries from 1937–52, Chairman of the Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland from 1952–72, the Royal Fine Arts Commission from 1943–57 and the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland in 1944.
In 1953 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were John F. Allen, David Jack, Edward Copson, and Daniel Edwin Rutherford. He was awarded the Order of the Thistle in 1955 for his time spent as Rector of the University of St Andrews from 1952–55.
From 1945-65 he was chairman of the National Trust.
He died at Balcarres House, near Colinsburgh in Fife on 13 December 1975. He is buried in the family chapel at Balcarres House.

Family

On 9 December 1925, Lord Crawford had married Mary Katherine Cavendish and they had three sons:
Lord Crawford died in 1975, aged 75, and his titles passed to his eldest son, Robert.