Lord wallace of tankerness biography of william

Between and he was a visiting professor at the Central European University where he was involved in setting up the International Relations Department. In he moved to the London School of Economics and Political Science where he took up a position as reader in international relations inbecoming a professor of international relations. He became an emeritus professor in One of his many doctoral students was Olli Rehn.

He joined the Liberal Party whilst studying at Cambridge and served as vice-president and then president of the Cambridge University Liberal Club. Remaining active in Liberal politics, Wallace unsuccessfully contested five parliamentary elections. He also served as a speechwriter for David Steel and as vice-chairman of the Standing Committee — He was co-author of the Liberal and Liberal Democrat election manifestos.

In he became the president of the Yorkshire regional Liberal Democrat Party. In he returned to the Federal Policy Committee as the Lords representative, serving on several party policy groups. He has also served as chair of the advisory board of the liberal think tank, CentreForum. He took over this position after the death of Conrad Russell in In Aprilhe courted controversy when he partially defended [ 8 ] Jenny Tongeanother Liberal Democrat peer following an interview she gave to the Jewish Chronicle in which she called for an investigation into claims of Israeli organ harvesting in Haiti.

In he became the Liberal Democrats' main frontbench spokesperson in the House of Lords on foreign affairs and in November was elected joint Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Peers. Following the setting up of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition after the general election Wallace was appointed a Government Whip acting as government spokesperson in the House of Lords on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education.

Wallace is a trustee of the National Children's Choir; a member of Atlantic Community Advisory Board; chair of the Board of Voces Cantabiles professional choir, not-for-profit musical and educational work ; is vice president of the Upper Wharfedale Agricultural Society; and is a member and shareholder of the Wensleydale Railway Association. He lists swimming, singing, confusing students, walking and pub lunches in the Yorkshire Dales, and gardening as his hobbies and interests.

He is a member and plot holder of the Saltaire Canalside Allotment Society. He is also a member of the Saltaire Tennis Club. Some of the English army, stunned by the ferocity of Wallace's charge, fled back across the bridge. The ones left behind on the north side were systematically butchered. The battle lasted barely an hour. More than five thousand English had died while Wallace suffered only negligible losses.

De Warenne beat a hasty retreat, harried by Wallace's forces as they moved south. It was a great victory, and led to Wallace being appointed Guardian of Scotland by a delighted Scottish nobility. By the end of the month the English had been expelled totally from Scotland. Wallace then marched into England in search of booty, which he collected as far south as Newcastle, often showing the same brutality which the English forces had shown the Scots.

A furious Edward swore revenge and put together a massive army offootmen and horsemen. Recognising the superiority of Edward's army, Wallace withdrew north. Unfortunately, his plans to surprise the English in a night attack were betrayed by two Scottish nobles. Edward immediately ordered his men to advance, until the two armies met at Falkirk.

Wallace's problems in being massively outnumbered were made infinitely worse when Comyn, the Lord of Badenoch who provided a large part of the Scots army, deserted the field with his men. It was a fight William could not win. The Scots army was utterly defeated, though Wallace himself slipped away from the battlefield, resigned the Guardianship and went to France to beg for help from the French.

Unable to gain support from Philip - and, it is now believed, from the Pope, as he either planned or actually made a trip to Rome during this time - Wallace returned to Scotland in and once again began harassing the English. Since his departure for France, however, things at home had changed. Edward had now completely overwhelmed the Scots, and most nobles now submitted to him.

Scotland had become a treacherous place for Wallace, especially since he was still public enemy number one as far as Edward was concerned and a bounty of merks had been placed on his head. Inevitably, he was betrayed. He was seized by a Scots baron, John Monteith, near Glasgow, taken to Dumbarton castle, and then moved to London under heavy guard.

On 23 Augusthe was tried for treason. Each occasion lasted for only a few weeks. Under his continued leadership, the Scottish Liberal Democrats' popularity grew steadily. After leading the party through the second Holyrood elections in Electionsagain winning 17 MSPs but with a higher share of the vote, he led the party into a second coalition with Labour.

The coalition negotiation process was widely seen as a more successful enterprise by the Liberal Democrats than the preceding one, with key aspects of Labour's proposals on anti-social behaviour dropped or limited, and with the promise of proportional representation for Scotland's 32 local councils. On 9 Mayfollowing the General ElectionWallace announced his intention to stand down as party leader and Deputy First Minister.

He would remain as MSP for Orkney until the election, but would serve his time out as a backbencher. On 13 Septemberit was announced that he was to be appointed to the House of Lords. On 28 Aprilit was announced that the new Lord Wallace would be a member of the Commission on Scottish Devolutionchaired by Sir Kenneth Calmanestablished by the Scottish Parliament to consider the future powers of the Parliament, including powers over finance.

This is a distinct exercise from the SNP Government's national conversation. He was elected unopposed, as the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords on 15 Octoberreplacing Lord McNallywho had stepped lord wallace of tankerness biography of william earlier in the month. In Septemberhe stepped down as the Leader of the Liberal Democrat in the House of Lords, citing a desire to step back from "frontline" politics stating "I was first elected to the House of Commons 33 years ago.

For 28 of these years, I have been on the frontline, including sixteen years in a leadership role, here in the Lords and in Scotland. In he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. A longstanding Elder of the Church of Scotland at St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwallhe was nominated and appointed to be Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for — The couple have two daughters: Helen and Clare.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. Scottish politician born For other people named James Wallace, see James Wallace disambiguation. The Right Honourable. Paddy Ashdown Charles Kennedy. Russell Johnston Malcolm Bruce.

Lord Temporal. Rosemary Fraser. Early life and education [ edit ].

Lord wallace of tankerness biography of william

Political career [ edit ]. This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Member of Parliament UK [ edit ].

Member of the Scottish Parliament [ edit ]. Deputy First Minister [ edit ]. Acting First Minister [ edit ]. Resignation and peerage [ edit ]. Honours and awards [ edit ]. Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland [ edit ]. Personal life [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. STV News. But three months later, Edward returned to England, and four months after that, in July, he invaded Scotland again.

On July 22, Wallace's troops suffered defeat in the Battle of Falkirk, and as quickly as that, his military reputation was ruined and he resigned his guardianship. He was briefly successful, but the French eventually turned against the Scots, and Scottish leaders capitulated to the English and recognized Edward as their king in He was taken to London and condemned as a traitor to the king and was hanged, disemboweled, beheaded and quartered.

He was seen by the Scots as a martyr and as a symbol of the struggle for independence, and his efforts continued after his death.