George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie

"George Younger" redirects here. For the Unionist Party chairman, see George Younger, 1st Viscount Younger of Leckie. For other uses, see George the Younger.

The Right Honourable The Viscount Younger of Leckie KT KCVO TD PC FRSGS
Secretary of State for Defence
In office 9 January 1986 – 24 July 1989
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Michael Heseltine
Succeeded by	Tom King
Secretary of State for Scotland
In office 4 May 1979 – 9 January 1986
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Bruce Millan
Succeeded by	Malcolm Rifkind
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
In office 18 February 1975 – 15 January 1976
Leader	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Peter Walker
Succeeded by	Ian Gilmour
Minister of State for Defence
In office 8 January 1974 – 4 March 1974
Prime Minister	Edward Heath
Preceded by	Ian Gilmour
Succeeded by	William Rodgers
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland
In office 24 June 1970 – 8 January 1974
Prime Minister	Edward Heath
Preceded by	Bruce Millan
Succeeded by	Teddy Taylor
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
as a hereditary peer 25 June 1997 – 11 November 1999
Preceded by	The 3rd Viscount Younger of Leckie
Succeeded by	Seat abolished
as a life peer 7 July 1992 – 26 January 2003
Member of Parliament for Ayr
In office 15 October 1964 – 16 March 1992
Preceded by	Thomas Moore
Succeeded by	Phil Gallie
Personal details
Born	George Kenneth Hotson Younger (1931-09-22)22 September 1931 Stirling, Scotland
Died	26 January 2003(2003-01-26) (aged 71) Gargunnock, Scotland
Political party	Conservative (1965–2003)
Other political affiliations	Unionist (until 1965)
Spouse	Diana Tuck ​ (m. 1954)​
Children	4, including James
Alma mater	New College, Oxford
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	British Army
Unit	Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
Battles/wars	Korean War

George Kenneth Hotson Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, Baron Younger of Prestwick, KT, KCVO, TD, PC, FRSGS (22 September 1931 – 26 January 2003), was a British Conservative Party politician and banker. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayr from 1964 to 1992. During the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, Younger served as Secretary of State for Scotland from 1979 to 1986, and as Secretary of State for Defence from 1986 to 1989.

Early life and career

Younger's forebear, George Younger (baptised 1722), was the founder of George Younger and Son of Alloa, the family's brewing business (not to be confused with Younger's of Edinburgh). Younger's great-grandfather, George Younger, was created Viscount Younger of Leckie in 1923. Younger was the eldest of the three sons of Edward Younger, 3rd Viscount Younger of Leckie.

He was born in Stirling in 1931 and educated at Cargilfield Preparatory School, Winchester College, and New College, Oxford, where he obtained a Master's degree. Joining the British Army, he served in the Korean War with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. On 7 August 1954, he married Diana Tuck, daughter of a Royal Navy captain. They had four children, including James Younger, who succeeded his father to the Viscountcy.

Political career

He first stood for Parliament, unsuccessfully, in North Lanarkshire in the 1959 general election. Subsequently, he was initially selected to stand for the Kinross and West Perthshire seat in a by-election in late 1963, but agreed to stand aside to allow the new Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home the chance to enter the House of Commons. He was viewed as a one-nation conservative.

Following in the footsteps of his great-grandfather the 1st Viscount, Younger became Member of Parliament for Ayr in 1964 and served as Margaret Thatcher's Secretary of State for Scotland for seven years. He subsequently succeeded Michael Heseltine as Secretary of State for Defence in 1986 when Heseltine resigned from the cabinet over a dispute about helicopters known as the Westland affair. In the 1987 general election, as part of a considerable swing away from the Conservatives in Scotland, he retained his seat after three recounts, by a majority of just 182 votes (having been almost 8,000 votes in 1983). Incidentally, it was held by his successor Phil Gallie by an even smaller majority of 85 votes in 1992.

After parliament

Younger quit the cabinet in 1989, and joined the Royal Bank of Scotland, becoming its chairman in 1992. He was created a life peer as Baron Younger of Prestwick, of Ayr in the District of Kyle and Carrick, on 7 July 1992, five years before succeeding to the viscountcy. As such, he continued to sit in the House of Lords after the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999 which expelled most of the hereditary peers. In 1995, the Queen appointed him a knight of the Order of the Thistle. Younger became Chancellor of Edinburgh's Napier University in 1993, and was Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for 2001 and 2002.

Younger died from cancer at his home in Gargunnock on 26 January 2003, at the age of 71.

Sources

• Torrance, David, The Scottish Secretaries (Birlinn 2006)
• Burke's Peerage & Baronetage (106th edition, 1999). Editor-in-chief: Charles Mosley; publisher: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by George Younger
• Lord Younger dies after cancer battle – BBC News article, dated Sunday, 26 January 2003.
• Lord Younger: A career in politics – BBC News article, dated Sunday, 26 January 2003.
• Tribute paid to 'Gentleman George' – BBC News article, dated Sunday, 26 January 2003.
• Marlow (Scotland) Lectures – IESIS website, retrieved 27 May 2012.