James Lindsay (Conservative politician)


James Louis Lindsay was a British Conservative Party politician.

Background and education

Lindsay was the second and youngest son of David Lindsay, 27th Earl of Crawford, and Constance Lilian, daughter of Sir Henry Pelly, 3rd Baronet. David Lindsay, 28th Earl of Crawford, was his elder brother. He was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford.

Political career

Lindsay fought in the Second World War as a Major in the King's Royal Rifle Corps. At the 1955 general election he was elected as Member of Parliament for North Devon, succeeding Christopher Peto. He served for one term until the 1959 election, when he lost his seat by only 362 votes to the Liberal candidate Jeremy Thorpe, who went on to become his party's leader.

Family

Lindsay came from a political family, and was elected to Parliament in the same election as his nephew Lord Balniel. He married the Hon. Bronwen Mary, daughter of Thomas Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden, in 1933. They had three sons and one daughter. He died in August 1997, aged 90.