Grace Halcrow

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Grace Muriel Thomson Halcrow (b. 1916, Glasgow, d. 19 January 1999, Lerwick), was a teacher in Cunningsburgh, a County Councillor for the same area between 1955 and 1961, and a Lerwick Town Councillor from 1957 till the late 1960s. Although standing as an independent candidate in these elections, Halcrow was a stalwart of the Conservative cause in Shetland.

She unsuccessfully contested the 1967 Lerwick Town Council election.

Notes

Shetland and Norway

Upon the discovery of the charter in which King Christian 1 of Denmark, Sweden and Norway pledged Shetland in 1469 for 8000 Rhenish florins to James III of Scotland, Grace said "I hope that Britain will wake up to the fact that if Norway chooses to exert her undoubted rights it would be fantastically easy for her to take Shetland back". At a meeting of the Orkney and Zetland Association, Grace described Shetland as "the illegitimate foundling of the United Kingdom, knowing that we had rights, but unable to produce the one vital document which was the foundation on which our rights depended."

Grace lamented that had the document been discovered before the unearthing of the St. Ninian's Treasure, a legal challenge may have prevented the treasure from leaving Shetland. (Glasgow Herald, Mar 11 1968).

Resignation of Norman Lamont

In the 1990's, Grace was the honorary president of the Shetland Conservative Association. When Shetland-born Norman Lamont resigned from Conservative Government in 1993, she said:

"I am rather sorry as he has had a very, very difficult time of it. Nobody could be popular in that job. He had to do things which people didn't like, like the heating tax. Having a Shetland Chancellor was really a very nice thing."

She was crippled by polio at an early age.

Political Career

Lerwick Town Council

Zetland County Council

External Links

Zetland County Council
Preceded by
Adam Halcrow
Member for
Cunningsburgh

1955-1961
Succeeded by
Joan McLeod
Cunningsburgh County Councillors
Councillors George Clark (1890-1896) • John Tulloch (1896-1901) • James Goudie (1901-1904) • Charles Stout (1904-1910) • Francis Pottinger (1910-1919) • Laurence Anderson (1919-1922) • Thomas Johnston (1922-1925) • Simson Wallace (1925-1927) • William Sinclair (1927-1929) • Henry Mouat (1929-1938) • Angus Gunn (1938-1940) • Laurence Laurenson (1940-1945) • St. Clair Pottinger (1945-1949) • Adam Halcrow (1949-1955) • Grace Halcrow (1955-1961) • Joan McLeod (1961-1975)