Eric Gandar Dower

Eric Leslie Gandar Dower (1894 – 4 October 1987) was a Scottish Unionist Party politician and businessman.

He was educated at Brighton College, like his elder brother Leonard, and at Jesus College, Cambridge, and trained for the stage at RADA, touring with a number of theatre companies.

Gandar Dower established Aberdeen Airport and pioneered Scottish Air Lines between Aberdeen and Edinburgh, Glasgow, Wick, Thurso, Kirkwall, and Stromness, as well as the first British/Norwegian Air Line between Newcastle and Stavanger in 1937. He served as a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve from 1940-43.

Following the War, he was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for Caithness and Sutherland at the 1945 general election with a majority of just 6 in the tightest ever three-way marginal - just 61 votes separated him from the third-placed candidate, Liberal Party parliamentary leader Archibald Sinclair. Sinclair had acted as Secretary of State for Air during World War II and could not spend much time in his constituency, the northernmost mainland seat. Recognising this, Gandar Dower had promised to resign his seat upon the defeat of Japan, it is assumed to allow Sinclair to fight a by-election in 'fairer' circumstances, but did not honour this pledge. Nevertheless, the local Conservative Association withdrew support for him subsequently and selected Sir David Robertson instead. Gandar Dower thus retired at the 1950 general election.

Gandar Dower's brother Alan also served as a Conservative member of parliament, while another, Kenneth, was a leading explorer and navigator. [Malies, J. (2004) "Dower, Kenneth Cecil Gandar- (1908–1944)", "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press]

References

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/history/scotlandonfilm/media_clips/clip_display.shtml?topic=transport&subtopic=air&clip_name=nationalisation_aa&media_type=audio Audio clip of BBC interview with Gandar Dower]