Cairncross, Alexander Kirkland

Epithet: Master of St Peter's College Oxford

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000757.0x000085

Alexander Kirkland Cairncross was born in Lesmahagow, Scotland on 11 February 1911, 3rd son of Alexander Kirkland and Elizabeth Andrew Cairncross. He married Mary Frances Glynn in 1943 and had three sons and two daughters. He was educated at Hamilton Academy and Glasgow and Cambridge Universities. His academic posts were as Lecturer in Political Economy at the University of Glasgow, 1935-1939 and Professor of Applied Economics there, 1951-1961. He became the University's Chancellor in 1972, a post he held until 1996. From 1969-1978 he was Master of St Peter's College, Oxford.

Cairncross was involved in Government throughout his career, both as a civil servant and as an advisor: Civil Servant 1940-1945; Director of Programmes, Ministry of Aircraft Production, 1945; Economic Advisory Panel, Berlin, 1945-1946; Economic Adviser to the Board of Trade, 1946-1949; Economic Adviser to HM Government, 1961-1964; Head of Government Economic Service, 1964-1969; Chairman, independent advisers on reassessment of Channel Tunnel Project, 1974-1975; Adviser to Minister of Transport on Channel Tunnel Project, 1979-1980. He was on many Government appointed committees: Crofting Commission, 1951-1954; Phillips Committee, 1953-1954; Anthrax Committee, 1957-1959; Radcliffe Committee, 1957-1959; Committee on Northern Ireland, 1971; Committee on Police Pay 1978.

He was a member of the following organisations and bodies: Economic Development Institute (Director 1954-1957); Court of Governors, London School of Economics; Royal Economic Society (President 1968-1970); Council, Institute of Fiscal Studies; President, Scottish Economic Society, 1969-1971; British Association for Advancement of Science, 1970-1971 (President Section F, 1969); Girls Public Day School Trust, 1972; Trustee, Urwick Orr and Partners; Editor, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 1954-1961. He was awarded honorary degrees by Mount Allison, 1962; Glasgow, 1966; Reading, 1968; Exeter, 1969; Heriot-Watt, 1969; Wales 1971; QUB, 1972; Stirling, 1973. He became an Honourable Member of the American Academy of Arts and Science in 1973. In recognition of his service to the nation, he became a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1950 and a Knight Commander in the same order in 1967.

From the guide to the Papers of Sir Alexander Kirkland Cairncross, 1911-1998, economist, 1928-1998, (Glasgow University Archives Service)