- Hamish Gray, Baron Gray of Contin
James Hector Northey Gray, Baron Gray of Contin, PC DL, (
28 June 1927 –14 March 2006 ), known as Hamish Gray, was a Scottishpolitician andlife peer .Gray was born in
Inverness and educated at theInverness Royal Academy . His father owned an Inverness roofing firm. He was commissioned into theQueen's Own Cameron Highlanders in 1945 and served inIndia , during partition. He married Judith Waite Brydon in 1953 and they had two sons and a daughter.He was elected as an Independent member of the Inverness Council in 1965 and at the 1970 general election he was elected to Parliament as the Conservative & Unionist Party
Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross and Cromarty. He was appointed to the Whips' Office in 1971 and he served as the Front Bench Energy spokesman (1975-1979). Upon the Conservatives return to government in 1979, he was appointed as theMinister of State for Energy (under David Howell), where he remained until the 1983 general election, when he was defeated in the new Ross, Cromarty and Skye constituency by the SDP CandidateCharles Kennedy .He was created as a
life peer in 1983, taking the title Baron Gray of Contin, of Contin in the District ofRoss andCromarty , and wasMinister of State for Scotland from 1983 until 1986.He served
Inverness asDeputy Lieutenant (1989), Vice Lord Lieutenant (1994) andLord Lieutenant (1996-2002).
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