Lindsay, A.D. (Alexander Dunlop), 1879-1952

Alexander Dunlop Lindsay, First Baron Lindsay of Birker (1879-1952), educationalist. The son of T.M. Lindsay; educated at University of Glasgow, 1899 and University College, Oxford, where he took a first clss in Literae Humaniores. He was president of the Union, 1902; Clark philosophy fellow, Glasgow, 1902-4; Shaw fellow, Edinburgh, 1904-9; fellow and classical tutor, Balliol College, Oxford, 1906-22; deputy controller of labour in France and lieutenant-colonel, 1917-19; CBE; professor, moral philosophy, Glasgow, 1922-4; master of Balliol, 1924-49. Lindsay welcomed the opening of Oxford to wider social classes; his democratic theories were the outcome of his Christian beliefs and his moral fervour made him a national figure. Lindsay was an adviser on education to the Labour party and the Trades Union Congress; chairman, committee on work of Protestant colleges in India, 1930; in 1938, he unsuccessfully contested Oxford City on the anti-Munich platform; was vice-chancellor, Oxford University, 1935-8; sponsored appeal for funds; piloted schemes for expansion of science departments, including new Clarendon Laboratory and absorption of Nuffield benefactions, including Nuffield College. Lindsay was the first principal of University College of North Staffordshire which he had worked to create, 1949-52. He was made a baron, 1945; Honorary Fellow, Balliol College; Honorary LLD, Glasgow, St. Andrews, and Princeton. Publications include The Essentials of Democracy (1929) and Religion, Science and Society in the Modern World (1943).

Reference: Robert Blake. Baron. 1916-, The Dictionary of National Biography 1981-1985 (Oxford. Oxford University Press, 1990).

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