Douglas Henderson (16 July 1935 – 15 September 2006) was a Scottish politician. He was Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 1971 to 1973 and from 1979 to 1981. He served as a Scottish National Party Member of Parliament (MP) for East Aberdeenshire from 1974 to 1979, and held virtually every national office in the SNP, short of party leader. His political style has been described as "no-nonsense" and "very blunt and forthright". He was also known for his forceful public speaking, which former SNP leader Alex Salmond described as "messianic".
Early life and career
Henderson was born in Edinburgh, the son of a railway porter. He won a scholarship to attend the Royal High School and was then awarded a bursary which allowed him to attend the University of Edinburgh from 1952 to 1957. He graduated from Edinburgh with an MA and an LLB. He was President of the Edinburgh University Nationalist Club. Henderson became heavily involved with the SNP after he returned to Scotland from South Africa in the mid-1960s. He was also the director of programmes for Radio Free Scotland from 1963 to 1965, and was Senior vice-chairman (depute leader) of the SNP from 1970 to 1972,. Future SNP leader Alex Salmond would win this constituency from 1987, and it would remain in SNP hands until 2017. Henderson also suffered in his private life, being divorced in the early 1980s.
Later revival (1998–2006)
He was out of active politics for a long period as a result of misdiagnosed illness. He had a major operation in 1998 for cancer, and then several months of chemotherapy, before he was able to resume his political duties for the SNP.
In September 2005, following the retirement of Winnie Ewing, he stood for the post of SNP President, losing to Ian Hudghton, Member of the European Parliament, but finishing ahead of onetime president William Wolfe. He was however successful in being elected as one of six ordinary members of the SNP's National Executive Committee.
He was selected to fight the Falkirk East constituency for the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, and was ranked fourth on the SNP's Central Scotland regional list. He died after a short illness in 2006, before the election could take place.