George McCrae (politician)

Colonel Sir George McCrae DSO DL VD (28 August 1860 – 27 December 1928) was a Scottish textile merchant and Liberal Party politician.

Born in poor circumstances in Aberdeen, the illegitimate son of a housemaid, George McCrae was educated at the Lancasterian School, Edinburgh, having been raised by his maternal uncle.

He was judged to be popular with his men and personally brave but he was thought to have deficiencies as a leader, probably an unwillingness to incur casualties.

[8] Despite this judgment of their chief, McCrae's Own, as the battalion was known, had managed to penetrate deeper into the enemy line than any other regiment during the 'big push' of July 1916.

[14] In 1899, Robert Wallace, the sitting Liberal MP for Edinburgh East, died causing a Parliamentary by-election.

In 1917, the Chief Liberal Whip of the Coalition government, Neil Primrose was standing down from parliament from his seat in England.

[21] Although McCrae remained a supporter of Lloyd George, he was unable to secure a seat for the 1918 General Election in which he could be an endorsed candidate of the Coalition Government.

[22] Following Liberal re-union between the supporters of Asquith and Lloyd George, for the 1923 general election McCrae switched his attention to the Stirling and Falkirk Burghs.

Standing as a Liberal, McCrae defeated the sitting Labour MP, Hugh Murnin by the narrow margin of 156 votes (which was less than 1% of the total poll).