Biography.guide
Home › People › Thomas McAlpine
Portrait of Thomas McAlpine

Thomas McAlpine

1929 – 2006

Scottish nationalist politician

Don't just read it — keep itBiographies to ownE-book · Audio · Video From $7 →

About Thomas McAlpine

Lived 1929 – 2006 (aged 76).

Thomas McAlpine (23 September 1929 – 21 February 2006) was a Scottish nationalist politician.

Born in Wishaw, McAlpine studied at Dalziel High School, then graduated in engineering from the Royal College of Science and Technology in Glasgow. He became involved with the Iona Community, becoming first its youth leader, then one of its first three lay members. He was a founder member of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and was prominent in the Committee of 100. Through this, he met and married his third wife, Isobel Lindsay, a lecturer at the University of Strathclyde. He joined the Labour Party and was elected as a councillor in Hamilton in 1960, but later left in protest at its support for nuclear weapons and in 1967 instead joined the Scottish National Party (SNP).

McAlpine also served as a Vice Chairman of the SNP, with responsibility for Administration, in the 1970s, and again in the early 1980s. In 1988, he was elected as a councillor in Biggar on Clydesdale District Council. He remained an SNP representative even though his wife left the party and later joined Labour, although he did not always take the party line. He opposed the restructuring of local government in Scotland in the mid-1990s, but won his seat on the new South Lanarkshire Council until he died unexpectedly in 2006.

Biography shop

Don’t just read it —
keep it.

Full-length biographies made to live with: read them, listen on the way to work, watch them tonight.

  • E-book
  • Audio
  • Video
Browse the shop — from $7

Instant download · yours to keep · every purchase keeps this site free

Important facts

Birth century
Education
University of Strathclyde, Dalziel High School

People in Thomas McAlpine's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Thomas McAlpine's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Thomas McAlpine?

Scottish nationalist politician

When was Thomas McAlpine born?

Thomas McAlpine was born on 23 September 1929.

When did Thomas McAlpine die?

Thomas McAlpine died on 21 February 2006.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Thomas McAlpine

· Wikidata: Q7792259

· DBpedia: Tom McAlpine

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Thomas McAlpine. https://biography.guide/thomas-mcalpine/

MLA: "Thomas McAlpine." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/thomas-mcalpine/.

Chicago: "Thomas McAlpine." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/thomas-mcalpine/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

Page generated 2026-09-27 05:13 UTC