David Milne

Sir David Milne, GCB (11 March 1896 – 4 February 1972) was a Scottish civil servant, who served as Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from 1946 to 1959.

Early life, war and education David Milne was born in Edinburgh on 11 March 1896 to the Rev. David Munro Milne (1863–1927), an Aberdeen-educated minister and the incumbent at St Luke's Church, Edinburgh from 1896 to 1927, and his wife, Jane Mackay (died 1922), daughter of James Mackay, of Banffshire. He had two sisters, Mary Catherine (born 1899; she married James Davie, MC, and settled in South Africa) and Agnes Jane (born 1906; she married Koert Nicholas Pretorius, of Botswana, formerly British Protectorate of Bechuanaland). Milne was educated at Daniel Stewart's College and the University of Edinburgh, After the war, he completed his classics degree at Edinburgh and won several scholarships.

Four years later, Milne was promoted to Deputy Secretary at the new Scottish Home Department, and he was promoted to become its Secretary in 1942. Milne's final promotion in the civil service was to be Permanent Under-Secretary to the Scottish Office, in which office he served from 1946 until his retirement in 1959.

Later, while Milne was its Permanent Under-Secretary, the Scottish Office grew and increasingly came to argue for the peculiarity of Scotland and the need for its consideration during policy-making. This, Levitt argues, reflected Milne's desire to stem the growth of Scottish nationalism; the result was a series of concessions to Scotland in the 1940s and 1950s in the form of lower tax rates but equivalent spending to England.

Likenesses Sir David Milne, by Elliott & Fry (bromide print, 1947). National Portrait Gallery, London (photographic collection, reference NPG x90644).