Sir James Hutchison , 1st Baronet Sir James Riley Holt Hutchison , 1st Baronet , DSO , TD , JP ( 10 April 1893 – 24 February 1979 ) was a British army officer , company director and politician . He was the son of a Scottish shipowner and spent his commercial life in the same field and as a director of shipbuilders , but fought in both World Wars during a long military career . He distinguished himself as the principal British liaison officer with the French Resistance during the Second World War in which he needed plastic surgery to disguise his appearance from the Germans ; he was nicknamed the " Pimpernel of the Maquis " . At the end of the Second World War he was elected as a Unionist Member of Parliament in Glasgow , and although the city was turning against his party he enjoyed a 14 - year Parliamentary career . First World War service . Hutchison ' s father , Thomas Holt Hutchison , was a shipowner and Glasgow magistrate who had a love of the sea and the shipping business ; he was to pass on the same attitudes to his son . He was sent to Stanmore Park Preparatory School followed by Harrow School for his education , followed by some study in France , before joining the family firm at the age of 19 in 1912 . He was still learning the trade when the outbreak of the First World War led him to enlist in the Lanarkshire Yeomanry . Hutchison later transferred to the 17th Cavalry of the Indian Army , and served throughout the war . Hutchison kept up his connections with the Lanarkshire Yeomanry and three decades later was appointed as the regiment ' s Honorary Colonel . Business life . On his return from the war , Hutchison resumed business life , where he rose to senior management positions . He was the representative of Glasgow to the Chamber of Shipping from 1933 to 1935 , and became chairman of the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company , Hutchison and Craft Ltd , and Grampian Holdings , and also a Director of the Tayside Floorcloth Company Ltd . He was also an insurance broker . In 1928 Hutchison married Winefryde Craft , who bore him a son and a daughter ( who predeceased her father ) . Second World War . Although he was in his late 40s , Hutchison enlisted again at the start of the Second World War . In the early part of the war he served in France and North Africa , before joining the Staff . There he was appointed as the principal link between the British forces and the French section of the Special Operations Executive , the secretive and daring body who undertook sabotage operations behind enemy lines . French resistance . Despite turning 50 , Hutchison was instructed to go to France to continue liaison work with the French Resistance after the Normandy landings . However , the face of ' Colonel Hutchison ' was well known to the Gestapo , who shot saboteurs after capture . He therefore went to London plastic surgeons to have his appearance disguised before going to France . When the surgery was complete , he was dropped by parachute in Normandy and resumed his work . So effective was Hutchison that he was nicknamed the " Pimpernel of the Maquis " ; he was not captured during four months in France , and at the end of the war he received the Distinguished Service Order from the British . The French awarded him the Croix de Guerre and made him a Chevalier of the Légion d ' honneur . MP for Glasgow . Immediately on leaving the Army , Hutchison pitched into the political world as Conservative candidate in Glasgow Central . The previous election had seen a relatively narrow Conservative majority of 3 , 521 , and was regarded as close enough to be a test of opinion among the Glasgow business community . Conservative Party leader Winston Churchill ( who was somewhat late arriving ) addressed a mass meeting at Blythswood Square in the division and received a warm reception from a large crowd . In the circumstances of the election ( where the Conservatives lost 180 seats ) , Hutchison did well to win by 1 , 516 although the swing in Glasgow was much less than elsewhere . Without delay Hutchison made his maiden speech in the debate on the King ' s Speech , lauding the United Kingdom for leading the progress of the peoples of the world along the road of social improvement , and calling for a minimum wage and maximum working day to be imposed on the defeated nations . In the crunch vote in December 1945 on whether to accept the Anglo - American loan , Hutchison abstained , explaining in a letter to " The Times " that the legislation was " disgracefully rushed " and there was too little time for examination and debate . Attitude to nationalisation . Hutchison was concerned by the Government ' s Civil Aviation Bill , particularly in its effect on Prestwick Airport which he feared would be " [ chucked ] overboard " . In July 1946 Hutchison reminded Prime Minister Clement Attlee that there were hundreds of ex - officers who had trained with the resistance movements , and suggested using some to help defeat terrorism in Palestine by both Arabs and Jews . He was an instinctive opponent of nationalisation , particularly of the electricity generation industry which he regarded as efficient and prudent . Industry . When the Government announced the end of the British mandate in Palestine , Hutchison thought the territory would be dynamite , and foresaw an impossible position with a Jewish police in Tel Aviv and an Arab police force in Jaffa . He was an active opponent of the nationalisation of Iron and Steel , serving on the Standing Committee examining the Iron and Steel Bill where he unsuccessfully pressed for a requirement that one member of the corporation running the industry should be from Scotland and one from Wales . Hutchison had concentrated on industrial matters during his time in Parliament , opposing regulations which restricted business freedom on matters such as price control . He insisted that these Orders were " full of vice " and questioned their legality . He had continued his business career and was National President of the Incorporated Sales Managers ' Association from 1949 . His shipbuilding connections led to an appointment as Parliamentary chairman of the Dock and Harbour Authorities Association , which was regarded as a successful choice . Hutchison was well - enough known to be referenced in Soviet propaganda of the time , being given as one of four examples of the " industrial magnates , landowning aristocrats , dealers and professional politicians " making up the Conservative Party in an article in " Trud " . Defeat and quick return . At the 1950 general election , Hutchison found his undersized constituency expanded to the east , taking in mostly Labour voters , but he was thought to be in much more difficulty from the abolition of the vote for business premises . Hutchison ended up losing by 3 , 004 votes . In August 1950 , Sir Arthur Young , Unionist MP for the Scotstoun division in the north - west of Glasgow , died . Hutchison was selected to follow him in defending a majority of 239 . After a close contest , Hutchison held the seat with an increased majority of 1 , 319 . He pitched back into partisan debate , arguing at the 1951 budget that the Government would not have had to increase income tax if it had been able to collect all the taxes which were due . He later insisted that enterprise and commercial courage were threatened by the budget . War Office . Although his majority was reduced to 625 in the 1951 general election , Hutchison was appointed as Financial Secretary and Under - Secretary of State to the War Office . With his post he was " ex - officio " Vice - Chairman of the Army Council and he occasionally deputised for the Secretary of State by attending . Hutchison supported the controversial move to German rearmament in 1952 , arguing that Germany should bear some of the burden of providing her own defence . In 1953 Hutchison initiated a reorganisation of British Anti - Aircraft Command , which reduced the number of heavy anti - aircraft units , and transferred some Territorial Army anti - aircraft units to the field force . He left office in October 1954 , succeeded by fellow Scottish military officer Fitzroy Maclean . After his return to the backbenches , Hutchison resumed making partisan speeches ; in December 1954 he attacked Labour MPs for politicising military subjects in order to seek political kudos . In March 1955 , after a report about the activities of some British Communists in Korea , he urged their prosecution for treason . Death penalty . After a narrow re - election in the 1955 general election in which he had a majority of 428 , Hutchison became President of the UK Council of the European Movement . He opposed agitation for equal pay for women in November 1955 , arguing that " they might work themselves completely out of jobs " . In early 1956 he tabled a motion to retain the death penalty for murderers of police officers . Cold war incidents . In the New Years ' Honours list of 1956 , Hutchison was awarded a baronetcy . When diver Commander " Buster " Crabb disappeared near the ship carrying Nikita Khrushchev and other Soviet leaders , Hutchison appealed for realism and noted that the Russians seemed more prepared to allow the matter to fade than were the British opposition . He noted that Britain was not the only nation with a secret service . In December 1956 Hutchison was elected as chairman of the Scottish Unionist members ' committee . In January 1957 , Hutchison was the first British MP to visit Hungary after the uprising the previous year was put down . On his return he praised the Hungarian people , saying that they were determined not to back the Kádár régime . After some years as a delegate , in May 1957 Hutchison became President of the Assembly of the Western European Union . Atomic research . Hutchison increasingly concentrated on defence issues in the late 1950s , and also urged more investment in atomic research . He pressed in December 1957 for the United Kingdom to join the European Nuclear Energy Agency . His efforts saw success in May 1958 when the Government announced that a technical collaboration agreement with Euratom would be negotiated . The agreement was signed in February 1959 . Hutchison was one of the sponsors of a Conservative backbench motion which rejected unilateral nuclear disarmament , which attracted over 100 signatories . Later business career . In 1958 Hutchison announced that he would not seek re - election , and left Parliament at the 1959 general election . He became Deputy President of Associated British Chambers of Commerce that year , and stepped up to be President from 1960 to 1962 . He also served as a member of the Export Council for Europe from 1960 . Hutchison was President of the Westminster Chamber of Commerce in 1963 . He also held some political appointments , including as a member of a small committee examining applications from servicemen to be released from the forces in order to fight Parliamentary byelections . Hutchison ' s work was honoured when he was made an Officer of the Venerable Order of Saint John in 1972 , and he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Glasgow in 1973 .