He died in hospital in November 1969, aged 70, and a memorial service was held for him in Glasgow Cathedral.
Maclay was elected as a Liberal in support of the National Government and prime minister Ramsay MacDonald.
However he never seems to have taken the whip of the Liberal National Party, the group in Parliament led by Sir John Simon.
In the crucial vote after the Norway debate on 8 May 1940 which led to the downfall of Neville Chamberlain he was one of only two Liberals to support the government (the other was Gwilym Lloyd George).
[7] Despite this, his relations with Herbert Samuel must have remained cordial as he was invited by Samuel to accompany him to a conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations held in Banff in Canada during the summer recess of 1933 to act as an honorary private secretary and before the conference they enjoyed some walking together in the forested countryside around Lake Louise (Alberta).