Presidents


We have been truly honoured to have had so many distinguished people as President of our Club.

Before WWII the Immortal Memory to Sir Walter was often broadcast on the Radio.

In 1930 the Address by Stanley Baldwin was transmitted "live" from our Annual Dinner in Edinburgh.

Our Current President is:

Lord Stewart

-- He will give the Toast to the Memory of Sir Walter at our Annual Dinner in 2025.


Past Presidents

2023: Professor Penny Fielding > [video]


2022: Dr. Janina Ramirez > [video] (She was unable to attend and so Dr. Lucy Wood gave the Toast to Sir Walter)


2021: Professor Murray Pittock > [video] 


2020: Sir Tom Devine > [video]


2019: Professor Murray Pittock (Dinner cancelled due to COVID-19)

1998: Sir John Thomson >  [bulletin] - 90th Annual Dinner


1997: Mrs. Patricia Maxwell-Scott >   [bulletin]


1996: Professor Neil MacCormick > [audio] > [bulletin]


1995: Paul H. Scott > [audio] >> [transcript]


1994: Dr Archie Turnbull > [audio] >> [bulletin]


1993: Right Hon. Lord Mackay of Clashfern >  [bulletin]


1992: Right Hon. Malcolm Rifkind >   [bulletin]


1991:  Mrs. Dorothy Dunnett > [audio] >> [transcript]


1990: Professor Edwin Morgan > [audio] >> [transcript]


1989: Allan Massie > [audio] >> [bulletin]

1987/8: Professor David Hewitt > [audio] - 80th Annual Dinner


1986: Dr. T. L. Johnston > [bulletin]


1985: The Right Hon. Lord Swann > [bulletin]


1984: The Right Hon. Lord Grimond > [bulletin]


1983: Lady Antonia Fraser > [audio] >> [bulletin]


1982: His Grace The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry > [audio] >> [bulletin]


1981: Professor R. J. Adam > [bulletin]


1980: W. E. K. Anderson > [bulletin]


1979: Lord Ballantrae > [bulletin] (Professor David Daiches presided and delivered the Toast to Sir Walter)


1978: Magnus Magnusson > [bulletin]

1967: The Right Hon. Lord Polwarth > [bulletin] - 60th Annual Dinner


1966: The Right Hon. Sir Alec Douglas-Home > [audio] >> [bulletin]


1965: The Right Hon. Lord Cameron  > [audio] >> [transcript]


1964: Professor David Daiches > [audio] >> [transcript]


1963: Malcolm Muggeridge >  [bulletin]


1962: Baroness Elliot of Harwood >  [bulletin]


1961: The Right Hon. Lord Birkett of Ulverston > [bulletin] (Died just three weeks before the Annual Dinner so The Right Hon. Lord Clyde, The Lord Justice General presided and delivered the Toast to Sir Walter)


1960: The Most Rev. and Right Hon. Arthur Michael Ramsay, Lord Archbishop of York > [bulletin] (later Archbishop of Canterbury)


1959: Hesketh Pearson >  [bulletin]


1958: The Right Hon. R. A. Butler >  [bulletin]

1957: Arthur Melville Clark > [bulletin] - 50th Annual Dinner


1957: The Right Rev. Monseignor Ronald Knox D.Litt (Resigned due to ill health)


1956: The Right Hon. Viscount Kilmuir > [bulletin]


1955: Professor C. S. Lewis > [bulletin]


1954: The Right Hon. Lady Tweedsmuir > [bulletin]


1953: Principal John Traill Christie > [bulletin]


1952: Eric Linklater > [bulletin]


1952: Principal John Traill Christie (Resigned to accept a Commission on Education in India)


1951: Professor Sir Alexander Gray > [bulletin]


1950: The Right Hon. Walter E. Elliot > [bulletin]


1949: The Right Rev. Maurice H. Harland > [bulletin] (Lord Bishop of Lincoln later Durham)


1948: Field Marshal The Right Hon. Earl Wavell of Cyrenaica and Winchester > [bulletin]

1947:   Dr. O. H. Mavor ('James Bridie') > [bulletin]   - 40th Annual Dinner


* * * * *


1939:   The Right Hon. Lord Ponsonby (Dinner cancelled due to Second World War)


1938: Major John Hay Beith (Ian Hay) [x]


1937: Professor George Trevelyan >  [bulletin]


1936: Dr. James Curle >  [bulletin]


1936: Sir Robert S. Rait C.B.E., M.A., LL.D.  (Resigned due to ill health)


1935: The Right Hon. Lord Macmillan >  [bulletin]


1934: The Hon. Lord St. Vigeans > [bulletin] (The Most Hon. The Marquess of Linlithgow presided and delivered the Toast to Sir Walter)


1933: The Most Hon. The Marquess of Linlithgow > [transcript] (The Hon. Lord St. Vigeans presided and delivered the Toast to Sir Walter)


1932:  Hugh Walpole > [transcript]


1931: Professor W. MacNeile Dixon >  [bulletin]


1930: The Very Rev. Sir George Adam Smith > [transcript]

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