Jack Donaldson, Baron Donaldson of Kingsbridge

Not to be confused with John Donaldson, Baron Donaldson of Lymington.

The Right Honourable The Lord Donaldson of Kingsbridge OBE
Minister of State for the Arts
In office 5 April 1976 – 4 May 1979
Prime Minister	James Callaghan
Preceded by	Hugh Jenkins
Succeeded by	Norman St John-Stevas
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office 4 March 1974 – 5 April 1976
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	The Lord Belstead
Succeeded by	James Dunn
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
In office 20 November 1967 – 8 March 1998 Life Peerage
Personal details
Born	9 October 1907
Died	8 March 1998
Political party	Labour (until 1981) SDP (1981-1988) Liberal Democrats (1988-1998)
Spouse	Frances Lonsdale
Alma mater	Eton College Trinity College, Cambridge

John George Stuart Donaldson, Baron Donaldson of Kingsbridge, OBE (9 October 1907 – 8 March 1998) was a British politician and public servant. He was a soldier, farmer, prison reformer, approved school manager, and consumers' champion .

Life

Jack Donaldson was the son of the Rev. S. A. Donaldson, sometime Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and Lady Albinia Donaldson (née Hobart-Hampden), the sister of the 7th Earl of Buckinghamshire. He was educated at Eton College (where he founded a jazz band called The Eton Outcasts) and at Trinity College, Cambridge, and married Frances Lonsdale in 1935. In 1939 he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers and served throughout the Second World War, reaching the rank of lieutenant-colonel and being appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1943.

He was created a life peer as Baron Donaldson of Kingsbridge, of Kingsbridge in the County of Buckingham on 20 November 1967. He was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office from 1974 to 1976, and served as Minister for the Arts from 1976 until the end of James Callaghan's government three years later. He left the Labour Party for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981, and remained with the Liberal Democrats after the SDP merger with the Liberals.

From 1968 to 1971 he was Chairman of the National Consumer Council.

His grandson is Fred Deakin of Lemon Jelly.

Works

• Farming in Britain Today (1969) with Frances Donaldson and Derek Barber
• Jack Donaldson: A Soldier's Letters (2017) A posthumous edition of letters written in the Second World War, 1939-45

Portraits of Jack Donaldson

The United Kingdom's National Portrait Gallery holds the following portrait featuring Lord Donaldson of Kingsbridge as a sitter: Exhibit number P528: John George Stuart Donaldson, Baron Donaldson of Kingsbridge and Frances Annesley (née Lonsdale), Lady Donaldson of Kingsbridge by Derry Moore, 12th Earl of Drogheda. Painted in 1992; medium: colour print; measurements: 14 7/8 in. x 12 in. (379 mm x 305 mm). See http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?search=ap&npgno=P528 for more information.

Arms

Coat of arms of Jack Donaldson, Baron Donaldson of Kingsbridge

Coronet A Coronet of a Baron Crest A Dexter Hand holding a Sword proper Escutcheon Or a Double Headed Eagle displayed Azure beaked and membered Gules surmounted of a Lymphad with two masts Sails furled Sable flagged on the fore mast with a Banner of Scotland proper (Azure a Saltire Argent) and on the main mast with a Pennon in the dexter chief point a Hand couped of the third and on the sinister chief point a Book expanded proper all within a Bordure also of the third Motto Aut pax aut bellum (Either peace or war)