George Freeland Barbour

George Freeland Barbour (15 February 1882 – 18 November 1946) was a Scottish author, philosopher and Liberal Party politician.

Background He was born in Cults, Aberdeenshire, a son of the Rev Robert William Barbour (1854-1891) of Bonskeid, and his wife, Charlotte Rachel Fowler of Gastard, Wiltshire.

He was educated at Morrison's Academy, Crieff and Edinburgh University. In 1905, he obtained a Master of Arts and in 1910 was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy.

In 1919, he married Helen Victoria Hepburn-Scott. They had two sons and three daughters. His daughter, Caroline Victoria, married journalist Julian Haviland. A son, Robin Barbour, was appointed Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1979.

Career In 1904 Barbour became Joint Honorary Secretary of the Scottish Temperance Legislation Board, a role he carried out until 1913. He was Liberal candidate for the West Perthshire division at the December 1910 General Election. Electorate 8,715

After the election he continued his involvement as Chairman of West Perthshire Liberal Association. In 1913 he became a member of the Royal Commission on Housing for Scotland, serving for four years. In 1919 he started working for the newly created League of Nations Union. He worked for the Union for the next 20 years. In 1919 he was appointed to the Perthshire Education Authority and served on that body for 25 years. so had spent time nursing the division. His hopes of regaining the seat were made harder by the presence of a Labour candidate who managed to poll enough votes to allow the Unionist to win;

He did not stand for parliament again. He served as a Justice of the peace. In 1942 he was elected as a Member of Perth and Kinross County Council, serving for three years, serving on the Education Committee. He was a Member of the British Council of Churches and the Provisional Committee of the World Council of Churches. He donated his ancestral home of Bonskeid to YMCA to use as a holiday home.

He was a worshipper and preacher "for many years" at Fincastle Chapel, near Blair Atholl. Memorial plaques to both himself and his mother are within the chapel.

Publications The Old Quadrangle (joint-author), 1907 A Philosophical Study of Christian Ethics, 1911 The Ethical Approach to Theism, 1913 The Unity of the Spirit, 1921 Life of Alexander Whyte, DD, 1923 Addresses in a Highland Chapel, 1924 Katherine Scott—a Memoir, 1929 Pringle-Pattison’s Realism (ed. with Memoir), 1933