Claude Hay (Conservative politician)

{{Short description|British politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}

The Honourable Claude George Drummond Hay (24 June 1862 – 24 October 1920) was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician.{{cite web|title=Hay, Hon. Claude George Drummond|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U197665|work=Who Was Who|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=26 August 2012}}

The fifth son of George Hay-Drummond, 12th Earl of Kinnoull and Lady Emily Blanche Charlotte Somerset, he was educated at Radley College and on the European Continent.{{cite news|title=Obituary: The Hon. Claude Hay|newspaper=The Times|date=26 October 1920|page=13}} He entered business as a member of the stockbroker company of Ransford & Co in London, and became a director of the Fine Arts & General Insurance Co.{{cite news|title=Biographies of New Members|newspaper=The Times|date=8 October 1900|page=13}}

He became active in Unionist politics and was first secretary of the Primrose League. He unsuccessfully contested the 1892 and 1895 general elections as the Conservative candidate in the east London constituency of Shoreditch, Hoxton. On his third attempt in 1900 he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Hoxton, defeating the sitting Liberal Party member, Professor James Stuart. He held the seat in 1906, but lost the seat to Dr. Christopher Addison of the Liberals in January 1910.{{cite news|title=Progress of the General Election|newspaper=The Times|date=18 January 1910|page=7}} It was an ill-tempered campaign, and Hay took libel proceedings against a number of newspapers following his defeat.{{cite news|title=Mr Claude Hay and "The Times"|newspaper=The Times|date=17 July 1912|page=13}} He chose not to make an attempt to regain the seat.{{cite news|title=The General Election|newspaper=The Times|date=22 November 1910|page=9}}

During World War I he was granted a temporary commission as a captain in Army Service Corps, subsequently transferring to the General Staff.{{London Gazette|issue=29715|date=18 August 1916|page=8253}}

He died in Sevastopol in 1920 aged 58 while working as a special correspondent in southern Russia for The Daily Telegraph.