James Hamilton, CBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (11 March 1918 – 11 April 2005) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 politician.

Hamilton was a construction engineer

Construction engineering

Construction engineering is a professional discipline that deals with the designing, planning, construction, and management of infrastructures such as highways, bridges, airports, railroads, buildings, dams, and utilities. Construction Engineers are unique such that they are a cross between civil...

 and was on the national executive of the Constructional Engineering Union and on the 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...

 Board for Industry. He served as a councillor on Lanarkshire

Lanarkshire

Lanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...

 County Council

County council

A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...

 from 1956.

Hamilton was Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Bothwell

Bothwell (UK Parliament constituency)

Bothwell was a county constituency in Lanarkshire represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1983. It was formed by the division of Lanarkshire constituency.- Boundaries :...

 from 1964 to 1983, and for Motherwell North

Motherwell North (UK Parliament constituency)

Motherwell North was a burgh constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 to 1997. It was formed by the division of Motherwell and Wishaw and was later merged into a new creation of the constituency....

 from 1983 to 1987, when he retired and was replaced by the future senior minister, John Reid.

Hamilton served as a Government whip

Whip (politics)

A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...

 (1969–1970 and 1974), Vice-Chamberlain of the Household (1974–1978) and Comptroller of the Household

Comptroller of the Household

The Comptroller of the Household is an ancient position in the English royal household, currently the second-ranking member of the Lord Steward's department, and often a cabinet member. He was an ex officio member of the Board of Green Cloth, until that body was abolished in the reform of the local...

(1978–1979).