James Duncan Millar

He had family connections to Duncan McLaren, a former Edinburgh Member of Parliament (MP) and to the famous Liberal John Bright.

[1] His maternal grandfather was James Duncan who was a member of The Society of Writers to the Signet the Edinburgh legal association.

He won the seat back from Cochrane at the 1929 general election albeit by the narrow margin of 581 votes [5] In 1931, an economic crisis led to the formation of a National Government led by Labour prime minister Ramsay MacDonald and initially supported by the Conservative and Liberal parties.

The official party led by Sir Herbert Samuel although agreeing to go into the 1931 general election supporting MacDonald became increasingly alarmed about the government's stance on Free Trade and worried about the predominance of the Conservatives in the coalition.

He continued to enjoy the support of both the local Liberal and Conservative Associations in East Fife, with both of which organisations he had gained the reputation for being a good constituency MP, particularly in representing the interests of fishing and agriculture.

[citation needed] In 1913, Millar was appointed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to sit on a committee of experts to look into the spread of various diseases in Africa and how they could be controlled.

[10] Millar died at his home, Remony Lodge, Aberfeldy in Perthshire, on 10 December 1932, aged 61, following a period of some weeks suffering badly with phlebitis and complications.