An Act to indemnify Niall Macpherson, Esquire, from any penal consequences which he may have incurred by sitting or voting as a member of the House of Commons while holding the office of member of the London agency of the Dried Fruits Control Board of the Commonwealth of Australia, and to remove any disqualification for membership of that House by reason of his having held that office.
In 1954, his membership of the London agency of the Dried Fruits Control Board of the Commonwealth of Australia gave rise to concern that he might be disqualified from sitting or voting as a member of the House of Commons by virtue of the Succession to the Crown Act 1707. To avoid this problem, an Act of Indemnity, the Niall Macpherson Indemnity Act 1954 (2 & 3 Eliz. 2. c. 29), was passed.[3][4]
Lord Drumalbyn was also chairman of the British Commonwealth Producers' Organization from 1952 and a member of the BBC General Advisory Council. In 1974 he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.[5]
Family
Lord Drumalbyn married Margaret Phyllis, daughter of Julius Joseph Runge, in 1937.[6] They had three daughters, Jean Stewart Macpherson, who married James Weatherall, Mary Stewart Macpherson, who married Philip Dudley Wilson and Howard Alvine Rees; and (Helen) Norah Macpherson (1947–1969), who died unmarried.[6] Lady Drumalbyn died on 13 August 1979.[6] In 1985, Lord Drumalbyn married Rita, widow of Harry Edmiston.[7] Lord Drumalbyn died on 11 October 1987, aged 79. The title became extinct on his death as he had no sons.[6] His widow died on 12 March 2014.
^ abcdMosley, Charles (2003). Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 107th Edition. Crans, Switzerland: Burke’s Peerage. p. 3773.
^Hammond, Peter W. (1998). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant: Addenda and Corrigenda. Vol. XIV. Gloucestershire, England: Sutton Publishing, Ltd. p. 838. ISBN0-7509-0154-3.