Hamish Watt is a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 politician, farmer and writer. The son of William Watt and Caroline Allan, he was educated at Keith Grammar School and at the University of St Andrews

University of St Andrews

The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...

, and was involved in dairy and sheep farming and other business interests.

He contested Caithness and Sutherland

Caithness and Sutherland (UK Parliament constituency)

Caithness and Sutherland was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1997. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 as the Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 candidate in 1966. He then switched to the Scottish National Party

Scottish National Party

The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....

 (SNP), contesting Banffshire

Banffshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Banffshire was a constituency of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800, and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1983...

 in 1970. He was elected for the seat in the February 1974 general election

United Kingdom general election, February 1974

The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...

, holding it until the 1979 election

United Kingdom general election, 1979

The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats...

. After a boundary change, he was unsuccessful SNP candidate for Moray

Moray (UK Parliament constituency)

-Sources:* * * * * * -See also:...

 in 1983. He was later a Regional and District Councillor with Moray District Council and Grampian Regional Council from 1985-90 (including serving as Chairman of the Grampian Education Committee from 1986-90). He was Rector of the University of Aberdeen

University of Aberdeen

The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...

 from 1985-88, and was awarded an honorary LLD by the University in 1988. Recently he has been a newspaper columnist, after-dinner speaker and author.

His daughter Maureen Watt

Maureen Watt

Maureen Watt is a Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for North East Scotland since 2006.Born in Aberdeen to a farming family, she was a secondary school teacher in Social Studies in England and moved back to Scotland to work in the oil sector.She was sworn in as MSP on 19...

 became an MSP

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...

in 2006.

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