Author Archives: Lin Macmillan

Lawrence Oliver, who has died aged 88, was a man who lived Liberalism. He brought his influence to the party in many different places and in many different ways.

As a young Glaswegian in 1959, Lawrence Oliver attended a talk in the city by Jo Grimond, on Liberal principles and values. Finding they were all in line with his own he signed up as a member of the Liberal Party, and subsequently set up Rutherglen Liberal Association with Douglas Mitchell and Roger Straker. In doing so, they laid the foundations for the superb work done over many years since in that area by Councillor Robert Brown and his colleagues.

In 1961 Lawrence attended a one-day conference of the Scottish Liberal Party in Glasgow. There he met that stalwart of the Scottish Liberal Party and later the Scottish Liberal Democrats, John Lawrie. They were to remain friends and political colleagues for 64 years. John last visited him in June 2025.

Lawrence became an approved candidate, and was selected to fight North Edinburgh for the Party in the 1966 General Election. By this time he was also a member of the SLP Executive. Lawrence gained 10.5% of the vote, which was respectable for that year. He remained active in the Scottish Party thereafter, including working with David Miller (father of Calum Miller MP) and the Aberdeen contingent of Nigel Lindsay, Sandy Waugh and Forbes McCallum in the 1967 by-election in Glasgow Pollok, at a low point in the Party’s fortunes.