William McKeag

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For the Canadian politician, see William John McKeag. For the Northern Irish footballer, see Billy McKeag.

William McKeag
MSM
Chairman of Newcastle United F.C.
In office
1957–1960
Preceded byWilf Taylor
Succeeded byWally Hurford
Member of Parliament
for City of Durham
In office
27 October 1931 – 14 November 1935
Preceded byJoshua Ritson
Succeeded byJoshua Ritson
Personal details
Born(1897-06-29)29 June 1897
County Durham, England
Died4 October 1972(1972-10-04) (aged 75)
Whitley Bay, Northumberland, England
Political partyConservative
Liberal, National Liberal, Progressive (formerly)
Spouse
Marie Crow
​
(m. 1922)​
Children3, including Gordon
OccupationPolitician, soldier, solicitor

William McKeag

North East of England and was described in his obituary in The Times as one of the North East's leading figures, a keen publicist for the area and for Tyneside in particular.[1]

Early life and education

William McKeag was born in

Carrville near Belmont.[2] McKeag was educated at Belmont School, at Johnston's School in Durham[3] and privately. Afterwards, McKeag qualified as a solicitor becoming a partner in firm of Molineux McKeag and Cooper, which had offices in Newcastle upon Tyne and Durham. He later became the director of various companies.[4]

Military career

McKeag was 17 years old at the outbreak of the Great War. He joined the army and served six years in

Order of Saint Anne.[4]

During the

Adjutant General.[6]

Political career

Parliamentary career

At the

National Government of prime minister Ramsay MacDonald meant that McKeag fought the general election in October as a Liberal in support of the National Government, enabling him to take advantage of the public support for the coalition and win the seat by the narrow majority of 270 votes.[7] When the Liberal Party led by Sir Herbert Samuel withdrew from the coalition in November 1933, McKeag refused to cross the floor into opposition with Samuel. He then associated himself with the Liberal National group in Parliament led by Sir John Simon at least to allow him to be the nominated National candidate at the 1935 general election, which he fought under the description Liberal National[8] in a straight fight with the former Labour MP Joshua Ritson. Labour were confident of a political revival in 1935, attacking the government on domestic policy and the armaments programme insisting that a vote for the National Government meant a vote for war.[9] Durham went solidly Labour with the party winning every seat in the county, including the Seaham constituency represented by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald
.

Local politics

McKeag resumed political activity at a local level after losing his Parliamentary seat. He resumed his status as a Liberal without prefix or suffix and was elected to Newcastle City Council in 1936. He remained a member of the council for 25 years, during which time he was raised to the Aldermanic Bench, Deputy Mayor and was Mayor of the City twice, in 1951–52 and in 1953–54. In 1966, he was declared an Honorary Freeman of Newcastle.[4]

McKeag still retained ambitions to return to Parliament as a Liberal but during the Second World War there was a truce between the main political parties which ensured that they did not oppose each other when

Dunkirk,[11]
perhaps because he did not wish his political career to interfere with his own war service.

McKeag retained his connection with the Liberal Party, holding the positions of President of Tynemouth Liberal Association and Vice–President of Newcastle Liberal Club[5] and he tried again to get back to Parliament as a Liberal in Newcastle North at the 1945 general election and in 1950 at Newcastle upon Tyne East, but after this he seems to have become disillusioned with the prospects of the party.

Changing political allegiances

By the mid-1950s, McKeag's political label on Newcastle City Council was described as Progressive rather than Liberal[12] and he was some time president of the Progressive Party in Newcastle.[4] It was clear he had moved towards the Conservatives however, perhaps retaining links from his days as a Liberal National, because in 1957, McKeag was nominated by the old disaffiliated Newcastle North Conservative Association as a candidate in the by-election caused by the elevation to the peerage of Gwilym Lloyd George in opposition to the official Conservative. The old association was disaffiliated in 1951 when the new one was formed to accommodate Lloyd George's becoming the local MP. McKeag agreed to accept the nomination. The official Conservatives adopted a young Morpeth farmer, William Elliott and Labour chose T.L. MacDonald, a Carlisle printer.[13] In the event, the unofficial Conservatives chose not to contest the election, which Elliott won comfortably with a majority of more than 6,000 votes.[14]

Other public service

McKeag held a long list of public offices as a result of his professional and political associations with Newcastle, County Durham and the North East of England. He was President of the Newcastle upon Tyne Law Students Association, a member of Newcastle upon Tyne Law Society Council, Under

Republic of Iceland and was a Commander of the Order of the Falcon an Icelandic award for Icelanders and foreigners for achievements in Iceland or internationally.[4]

McKeag was also a Director of Newcastle United F.C. for 28 years, and was for a time, its chairman.[1] His son Gordon McKeag was also a Chairman of the club from 1988 to 1990.[15]

Personal life and death

In 1922, he married Marie Elizabeth, the daughter of William Corn Crow of Newcastle upon Tyne. They had two sons and a daughter together.[16] McKeag died aged 75 years on 4 October 1972 at Whitley Bay.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e The Times, 5.10.72
  2. ^ Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1932 p381
  3. ^ "Services, Quality Local News". www.theclarion.co.uk.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Who was Who
  5. ^ a b c Who’s Who of 475 Liberal Candidates fighting the 1950 General Election; Liberal Publications Dept. 1950 p49
  6. ^ Parliament and Politics in the Age of Churchill and Attlee: The Headlam Diaries, 1935–1951, Cuthbert Morley Headlam, Stuart Ball (ed); Cambridge University Press, 1999 p185n
  7. ^ The Times, 28.10.35
  8. ^ The Times, 5.11.35
  9. ^ The Times, 12.11.35
  10. ^ The Times, 27.5.40
  11. ^ Chris Cook and John Ramsden, By-elections in British Politics, UCL Press, 1997 p134
  12. ^ The Times, 5.4.56
  13. ^ The Times, 26.2.57
  14. ^ "WebCite query result". www.webcitation.org. Archived from the original on 31 August 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  15. ^ "Tributes for ex-Toon chief". chroniclelive.co.uk. 1 October 2005. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  16. ^ Who was Who, OUP 2007

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for City of Durham
1931 – 1935 		Succeeded by
Joshua Ritson
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