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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honorable]]
| name = Sir John Wardlaw-Milne
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|KBE}}
| image = Sir John Sydney Wardlaw-Milne (1879-1967) in 1918.jpg
| caption = Sir John Sydney Wardlaw-Milne in 1918
| alt = A black and white photo of a man in military uniform
| office = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br/>for [[Kidderminster (UK Parliament constituency)|Kidderminster]]
| predecessor = [[Eric Knight (politician)|Eric Knight]]
| successor = [[Louis Tolley]]
| term_start = 15 November 1922
| term_end = 26 July 1945
| birth_date = {{birth date|1879|5|7|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Elgin, Moray|Elgin]], [[Morayshire]], Scotland
| death_date = {{death date and age|1967|7|11|1879|5|7|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Grouville]], Jersey
| spouse = Aimée Margaret Garden (m. 1907–1933: her death)
| party = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]
| profession = Banker
| branch = [[British Indian Army]]
| unit = {{plainlist|
* [[Bombay Army|4th (Bombay) Garrison Artillery]]}}
| service_years = 1917–1919
| rank = [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant colonel]]
| battles = {{tree list}}
* [[First World War]]
** [[India in World War I]]
{{tree list/end}}
| mawards = [[Member of the Order of the British Empire|Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (1932)
| module = {{Infobox cricketer |child=yes
| batting = Left-handed
| bowling = Left-arm (unknown style)
| club1 = [[Mumbai cricket team|Bombay]]
| year1 = {{nowrap|1902/03}}
| club2 = [[Europeans cricket team|Europeans]]
| year2 = {{nowrap|1907/08–1911/12}}
| columns = 1
| column1 = [[First-class cricket|First-class]]
| matches1= 7
| runs1 = 122
| bat avg1= 15.25
| 100s/50s1 = –/–
| top score1 = 36
| deliveries1 = 771
| wickets1= 28
| bowl avg1 = 13.28
| fivefor1= 2
| tenfor1 = –
| best bowling1 = 5/21
| catches/stumpings1 = 6/–
| source = {{Cricinfo |id=31166 |name=John Wardlaw-Milne}} }}
}}
'''Sir John Sydney Wardlaw-Milne''' {{postnominal|KBE}} (7 May 1879 – 11 July 1967) was a Scottish [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] politician and a first-class [[cricket]]er. The son of a Scottish banker, Wardlaw-Milne spent the early part of his life in [[British India]], where he became a prominent figure in [[Mumbai|Bombay]] civic society. It was in India that he played [[first-class cricket]] for [[Mumbai cricket team|Bombay]] and the [[Europeans cricket team]]. Following the [[First World War]], he returned to the United Kingdom and was elected the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Kidderminster (UK Parliament constituency)|Kidderminster]] in 1922, an office he would hold until his defeat in the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]]. As an MP, he was a member of the Imperial Economic Committee and during the [[Second World War]] was a critic of [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Winston Churchill]], notably attempting to intitate a vote of no confidence against him in June and July 1942.

==Biography==
===Early life and time in India===
The son of the banker James Milne and his wife, Elizabeth Wardlaw, he was born at [[Elgin, Moray|Elgin]] in May 1879. He was educated in Scotland at the [[Lomond School|Larchfield Academy]].<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=76640|first=Jason|last=Tomes|title=Milne, Sir John Sydney Wardlaw (1879–1967)}}</ref> After completing his education, he went to [[British India]], where he was employed in commerce in [[Mumbai|Bombay]].<ref name="ODNB"/> Milne played [[first-class cricket]] in India, making his debut for [[Mumbai cricket team|Bombay]] against the touring [[Oxford University Authentics]] at [[Bombay Gymkhana|Bombay]] in November 1902.<ref name="FCM">{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/14/14127/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by John Milne|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=21 November 2023|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Five years later, he appeared in first-class cricket for the [[Europeans cricket team]] against the [[Parsis cricket team|Parsees]] in the 1907–08 [[Bombay Quadrangular|Bombay Triangular Tournament]]; he played first-class cricket for the Europeans until September 1911, making six appearances.<ref name="FCM"/> Playing primarily as a left-arm [[bowling (cricket)|bowler]], he took 28 wickets at an [[bowling average|average]] of 13.28; he took two [[five wicket haul]]s, with best figures of 5 for 21. With the bat, he scored 122 runs, with a highest score of 36.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/john-milne-31166|title=Player profile: John Milne|publisher=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=21 November 2023}}</ref>

Milne became a director at the shipping agents Turner Morrison in 1907, which led him gaining prominence on the [[Bombay Chamber of Commerce]]. In-turn, he was nominated to the [[Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation|Bombay Municipal Corporation]], the board of trustees for the [[Mumbai Harbour|Port of Bombay]], the [[Bombay City Improvement Trust|City of Bombay Improvement Trust]], and to the [[Bombay Presidency]] legislature.<ref name="ODNB"/> During the [[First World War]], he served on the [[Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst|Viceroy of India's]] council in 1915, and as president of the government of India's advisory war shipping committee.<ref name="ODNB"/> Milne saw active service later in the war, being commissioned as a [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|lieutenant colonel]] into the [[Bombay Army|4th (Bombay) Garrison Artillery]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30992|date=5 November 1918|page=13015}}</ref> After the war, he was sent to Britain in 1919 in order to comment on the [[Government of India Act 1919|Government of India Act]], which was passing through the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]. Thereafter, he toured the United States, where he lectured on matters pertaining to British foreign policy in the East.<ref name="ODNB"/>

===Political career===
Returning to the United Kingdom on a permanent basis, he began a career as a banker in the [[City of London]]; despite his relocation, he remained on the boards of both the [[Bank of Bombay]] and the [[Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway]].<ref name="ODNB"/> He was elected at the [[1922 United Kingdom general election|1922 general election]] as [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Kidderminster (UK Parliament constituency)|Kidderminster]],<ref name="ODNB"/> with him being re-elected in the [[1923 United Kingdom general election|1923]] and [[1924 United Kingdom general election]]s. Following his election, he preferred to hyphenate his surname to Wardlaw-Milne. He held the seat until his defeat at the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]], where his [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] opponent [[Louis Tolley]] overcame a 25% deficit.<ref name="ODNB"/> Wardlaw-Milne was often seen as being on the right wing of the Conservative Party and during the tough economic times of the early 1930s, promoting the need to reduce taxes on businesses and reduce state intervention. He also promoted the raising of the school age and that free education should be abolished in elementary schools, proffering the introduction of a universal fee-paying system. He wrote two books on economic matters, which were published in 1931 and 1932.<ref name="ODNB"/>

Wardlaw-Milne was a proponent for greater immigration and expanding [[British Empire|imperial markets]] as remedies for unemployment; his interest in these matters saw him serve as a member of the Imperial Economic Committee from 1927 to 1929.<ref name="ODNB"/> He was honoured in the [[1932 Birthday Honours]] for his political and public services, being made a [[Knight Commander]] of the Civil Division of [[Order of the British Empire|the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33831|date=31 May 1932|page=3576|supp=y}}</ref> His prior experience in India served him well in parliament, with Wardlaw-Milne sitting on the Conservative Indian affairs committee from 1930 to 1935. He additionally sat on the Joint Select Committee on Indian constitutional reform from 1933 to 1935,<ref name="ODNB"/> which had been established to consider the proposals for Indian self-government contained in the government's March 1933 [[white paper]], which ultimately led to the [[Government of India Act 1935]]. Throughout the 1930s, he was a supporter of [[Neville Chamberlain]].<ref name="ODNB"/>

Wardlaw-Milne was a supporter of the [[Munich Agreement]], however eleven months later he would support the [[United Kingdom declaration of war on Germany (1939)|declaration of war on Germany]]. During the war years, he was the chair of the Conservative foreign affairs committee, where his focus again remained in the east, specifically on trade with [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|China]].<ref name="ODNB"/> In September 1939, he became chair of the newly formed Select Committee on National Expenditure, where he became a vocal critic of administrative incompetence and attacked the government for failing to introduce industrial conscription to aid with the war effort, asserting that war output did not exceed 75% efficiency.<ref name="ODNB"/>

=== Vote of no confidence ===
During June–July 1942, Wardlaw-Milne was involved in an attempt to force [[Winston Churchill]] out in a [[vote of no confidence]]. The vote followed what Churchill in his war memoirs called "a long succession of misfortunes and defeats".<ref>The Hinge of Fate, p. 392</ref> The Conservative politician [[Robert Boothby]], appearing in [[Martin Gilbert]]'s documentary on Churchill's life, said, "It was the only time in the whole of the war that I saw him [Churchill] looking really anxious, because the only thing in the world he feared was Parliament." Wardlaw-Milne proposed the vote of no confidence on Churchill's running of the war. His speech, according to biographer [[Roy Jenkins]], was "a fiasco."<ref>Jenkins, Churchill, p. 695</ref> According to Jenkins, Wardlaw-Milne felt that operation of the war should be turned over to:
<blockquote>"a dominating figure to run the war and also a generalissimo to command all the armed forces. It was not clear whether Milne wanted them to be the same person.... However, it did not greatly matter for he turned his whole argument into bathos by nominating the [[Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester|Duke of Gloucester]], the third son of [[George V of the United Kingdom|George V]], for either or both of these jobs."<ref name="Jenkins, Churchill, p. 695">Jenkins, Churchill, p. 695</ref></blockquote>

Gloucester was regarded as "a figure of fun" and "[t]he idea that he could be turned into a dominating warrior prince scuppered both his own and Wardlaw-Milne's reputations".<ref name="Jenkins, Churchill, p. 695"/> Churchill's own assessment was that "the combination of a Supreme War Commander with almost unlimited powers and his association with a Royal Duke seemed to have some flavour of dictatorship about it".<ref>Churchill, Hinge of Fate, p. 397</ref> The final vote on the proposal, on 1 July 1942, was 475 to 25 in favor of Churchill's government.<ref>Churchill, Hinge of Fate, p. 408</ref> Jenkins gives the vote as 477 to 27, including tellers.<ref>Jenkins, Churchill, p. 697</ref>

===Later life and death===
Following his defeat in the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]], Wardlaw-Milne sat on the board of [[Cable & Wireless Worldwide|Cable & Wireless]] until 1953, having been appointed in 1943. He played an important role in the renovation of the [[Royal Albert Hall]] in his capacity as president of its corporation from 1949 to 1952. In his latter years, he moved firstly to [[Rhu]] in [[Dunbartonshire]], before relocating to [[Grouville]] in [[Jersey]] in 1952.<ref name="ODNB"/> He died there at his residence on 11 July 1967. Having been widowed in 1933, and having no children who could inherit his estate, he left £100,000 to the [[Government of Jersey]] to construct a leisure centre at [[Fort Regent]] in [[St Helier]].<ref name="ODNB"/> He was buried at sea, after requesting his body be disposed in such a manner.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002318/19670803/028/0002|title=Burial at sea|work=[[Belfast Telegraph]]|page=2|date=3 August 1967|access-date=21 November 2023|url-access=subscription|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]}}</ref>

== Footnotes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
*{{cite book|last=Craig|first=F. W. S.|author-link=F. W. S. Craig|title=British parliamentary election results 1918-1949|orig-year=1969|edition=3rd|year=1983|publisher=Parliamentary Research Services|location=[[Chichester]]|isbn=090017806X}}
*{{cite book|last=Churchill|first=Winston|author-link=Winston Churchill|title=The Second World War Volume IV: The Hinge of Fate|orig-year=1950|year=1985|publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin]]|location=[[Boston|Boston, Massachusetts]]|isbn=0395410584}}
*{{cite book|last=Jenkins|first=Roy|author-link=Roy Jenkins|title=Churchill: A Biography|year=2001|publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]]|location=[[New York City]]|isbn=9780330476072}}

==External links==
*{{cricinfo|id=31166}}
*{{Hansard-contribs|mr-john-wardlaw-milne|John Wardlaw-Milne}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
| title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Kidderminster (UK Parliament constituency)|Kidderminster]]
| years = [[1922 United Kingdom general election|1922]]–[[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945]]
| before = [[Eric Knight (politician)|Eric Knight]]
| after = [[Louis Tolley]]
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wardlaw-Milne, John}}
[[Category:1879 births]]
[[Category:1967 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Moray]]
[[Category:People educated at Larchfield Academy]]
[[Category:Scottish cricketers]]
[[Category:Mumbai cricketers]]
[[Category:Europeans cricketers]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish businesspeople]]
[[Category:Mumbai civic officials]]
[[Category:British Indian Army officers]]
[[Category:Indian Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Scottish bankers]]
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1922–1923]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1923–1924]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1924–1929]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1929–1931]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1931–1935]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1935–1945]]
[[Category:Burials at sea]]

John Wardlaw-Milne - Revision history

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