Joseph Paton Maclay, 1st Baron Maclay

Who was Joseph Paton Maclay, 1st Baron Maclay?

Joseph Paton Maclay, 1st Baron Maclay PC, known as Sir Joseph Maclay, 1st Baronet, from 1914 to 1922, was a Scottish businessman and public servant.

Maclay was the son of Ebenezer Maclay of Glasgow. He was Chairman of Maclay & Macintyre Ltd, shipowners, of Glasgow. In 1916 he was admitted to the Privy Council and appointed Minister of Shipping, a post he held until 1921. Because he was not a Member of either House of Parliament, the ministry's spokesman in the House of Commons was Maclay's junior minister Sir Leo Chiozza Money, whose appointment he had tried to resist.

Maclay opposed nationalisation of merchant shipping, and insisted that owners still be allowed to make a profit as an incentive, although excessive profits were taxed. Maclay approved four standard designs of merchant ship and began the process of increasing ship construction, although he was hampered by shortages of steel and labour, and ships under construction in the USA were confiscated when she entered the war. Maclay rejected Admiral Jellicoe’s arguments that convoys presented too large a target to U-Boats, and that merchant ship masters lacked the discipline to “keep station” in a convoy.