William Mitchell-Thomson, 1st Baron Selsdon

The Lord Selsdon
File:Sir William Mitchell-Thomson, Bt in 1921.jpg
Postmaster General
In office 1924–1929
Preceded by	Vernon Hartshorn
Succeeded by	Hastings Lees-Smith
Member of Parliament for Croydon South
In office 6 December 1923 – 15 January 1932
Preceded by	Allan Macgregor Smith
Succeeded by	Herbert Williams
Member of Parliament for Glasgow Maryhill
In office 14 December 1918 – 15 November 1922
Preceded by	Constituency created
Succeeded by	John William Muir
Member of Parliament for North Down
In office 28 April 1910 – 14 December 1918
Preceded by	Thomas Lorimer Corbett
Succeeded by	Thomas Watters Brown
Member of Parliament for North West Lanarkshire
In office 8 February 1906 – 10 February 1910
Succeeded by	William Pringle
Personal details
Born	(1877-04-15)15 April 1877 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	London, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Scottish Unionist Irish Unionist Conservative
Spouse(s)	Annie McEacharn
Children	Peter
Religion	Presbyterian

William Lowson Mitchell-Thomson, 1st Baron Selsdon KBE PC (15 April 1877 – 24 December 1938), known as Sir William Mitchell-Thomson, 2nd Baronet, from 1918 to 1932, was a British politician.

Mitchell-Thomson was the son of Sir Mitchell Mitchell Thomson, Lord Provost of Edinburgh. He was elected as a Unionist Member of Parliament for North West Lanarkshire in 1906, serving until his defeat at the January 1910 general election. He was an Irish Unionist Party MP for North Down from April 1910 until 1918. He was then MP for Glasgow Maryhill between 1918 and 1922, then Conservative MP for Croydon South, South London from 1923 to 1932.

In 1922, Mitchell-Thomson was Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade and from 1924 until 1929, he served as Postmaster General. During the General Strike of 1926, he served as Chief Civil Commissioner. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1924.

In 1932, Mitchell-Thomson resigned from the House of Commons and was raised to the peerage as Baron Selsdon, of Croydon in the County of Surrey.

In May 1934 the British government appointed a committee, under the guidance of Lord Selsdon, to begin enquiries into the viability of setting up a public television service, with recommendations as to the conditions under which such a service could be offered. The results of the Selsdon Report were issued as a single Government White Paper in January of the following year. The BBC was to be entrusted with the development of television. Lord Selsdon was one of those to appear on the first day of BBC television broadcasts, 2 November 1936, now in his new capacity as Chairman of the Television Advisory Committee.

Lord Selsdon died at his home in 20 Grosvenor Square, London, in December 1938, aged 61, and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, his ashes later buried in Edinburgh. He was succeeded in his titles by his son Peter, who became a well-known racing driver.

References

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Portraits of Baron Selsdon at the National Portrait Gallery, London

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Mitchell-Thomson

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Charles Mackinnon Douglas	Member of Parliament for North West Lanarkshire 1906–January 1910	Succeeded by William Mather Rutherford Pringle
Preceded by Thomas Lorimer Corbett	Member of Parliament for North Down 1910–1918	Succeeded by Thomas Watters Brown
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Glasgow Maryhill 1918–1922	Succeeded by John William Muir
Preceded by Allan Smith	Member of Parliament for Croydon South 1923–1932	Succeeded by Herbert Williams
Political offices
Preceded by Vernon Hartshorn	Postmaster General 1924–1929	Succeeded by Hastings Lees-Smith
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Selsdon 1932–1938	Succeeded by Peter Mitchell-Thomson
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Mitchell Mitchell-Thomson	Baronet (of Polmood) 1918–1932	Succeeded by Peter Mitchell-Thomson