Editing Ramsay MacDonald (section)

== Last years and death (1935–1937) ==
At [[1935 United Kingdom general election|the November 1935 election]] MacDonald was defeated at Seaham by [[Emanuel Shinwell]], but he was re-elected to Parliament at a [[1936 Combined Scottish Universities by-election|by-election in January 1936]] for the [[Combined Scottish Universities (UK Parliament constituency)|Combined Scottish Universities seat]]. After Hitler's [[Remilitarization of the Rhineland|re-militarisation of the Rhineland]] in 1936, MacDonald declared that he was "pleased" that the [[Treaty of Versailles]] was "vanishing", expressing his hope that the French had been taught a "severe lesson".<ref name="Stevenson 1998 p10">{{cite book |last=Stevenson |first=David |author-link=David Stevenson (historian) |year=1998 |chapter=France at the Paris Peace Conference: Addressing the Dilemmas of Security |editor=Robert W. D. Boyce |title=French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918–1940: The Decline and Fall of a Great Power |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page=10 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7xZFKfQHAtMC&pg=PA10
|isbn=978-0415150392 }}</ref> MacDonald was one of the signatories to the [[Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Historic Anglo-Egyptian treaty signed in London – archive, 1936 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/27/historic-anglo-egyptian-treaty-signed-in-london-archive-1936 |website=Guardian |date=27 August 2021 |access-date=28 August 2021}}</ref>

His health was failing. King George&nbsp;V died a week before voting began in the Scottish by-election, and MacDonald deeply mourned his death,<ref name="Marquand1977">{{harvnb|Marquand|1977|p=[https://archive.org/details/ramsaymacdonald0000marq/page/784 784]}} "George&nbsp;V's death in January 1936, had been a heavy blow to MacDonald; it is clear from his diary that he must have taken some time to recover from it."</ref>{{sfn|Morgan|1987|p=234}} paying tribute to him in his diary as "a gracious and kingly friend whom I have served with all my heart".<ref name="Marquand1977" />{{sfn|Morgan|1987|p=234}} There had been genuine affection between the two and the king is said to have regarded MacDonald as his favourite prime minister.<ref>{{cite book |last=Berkeley |first=Humphry |author-link=Humphry Berkeley |title=The myth that will not die: the formation of the National Government 1931 |year=1978 |publisher=Croom Helm |isbn=978-0856647734 |page=15}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Watkins |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Watkins |title=History without heroes |magazine=[[The Spectator]] |volume=241 |date=2 September 1978 |publisher=F.C. Westley |page=20}}</ref> Following the king's death MacDonald's physical and mental health collapsed.

A sea voyage (with his youngest daughter [[Sheila Lochhead|Sheila]]) was recommended to restore MacDonald's health, but he died of [[heart failure]] on board the liner {{MV|Reina del Pacifico}}, on 9 November 1937, aged 71.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite web |last1=Marquand |first1=David |title=MacDonald, (James) Ramsay |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-34704?rskey=cDzIh0&result=3#odnb-9780198614128-e-34704-div1-d2540e3215 |publisher=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |access-date=9 February 2025}}</ref>

MacDonald's body was transferred to the Royal Navy at Bermuda for return to [[Plymouth]]. All of the Bermuda-based cruisers of the [[America and West Indies Station]] were away from Bermuda at that time except for [[HMS Orion (85)|HMS ''Orion'']] and [[HMAS Hobart (D63)|HMS ''Apollo'']]. As ''Apollo'' was undergoing a refit at the dockyard, it would have fallen to ''Orion'' to deliver MacDonald's body, but as she was temporary flagship since [[HMS York (90)|HMS ''York'']] had departed on 27 October for [[Trinidad]] (due to civil unrest there) she could not leave the station and ''Apollo'' was consequently hurried through her refit instead. ''Orion'' was tasked with the memorial service for Macdonald. His body was taken aboard the Royal Navy tug ''Sandboy'' from the ''Reina del Pacifico'' and landed on Front Street in [[Hamilton, Bermuda|Hamilton]] along with the [[Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda|Royal Naval Dockyard]] Chaplain, the ''Orion''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Chaplain, an honour guard, sentries and coffin bearers. MacDonald's coffin was borne on a gun carriage to the [[Church of England]]'s [[Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity, Bermuda|Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity]], in a procession that included the ship's company of ''Orion'' and a detachment of the [[Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment)]], serving in the [[Bermuda Garrison]]. At the cathedral, [[Arthur Browne (bishop)|Arthur Browne]], the [[Bishop of Bermuda]], conducted the memorial service, which was followed by a [[lying in state]]. Thousands visited to pay their respects. MacDonald's body and his daughter departed Bermuda the following day aboard ''Apollo'', arriving at Plymouth on 25 November. His funeral was in [[Westminster Abbey]] on 26 November, followed by a private cremation service at [[Golders Green Crematorium|Golders Green]]. After cremation, his ashes were taken to Lossiemouth, where a service commenced in his house, The Hillocks, followed by a procession to [[Holy Trinity Church, Spynie]], where they were buried alongside his wife Margaret and their son David in his native [[Moray]].<ref name="MacDonald"/><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=4 December 1937 |title=
Ramsay MacDonald's Last Homecoming: Bermuda to Lossiemouth|work=The Illustrated London News |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=1939 |title=H.M.S. Orion 1937–1939. |publication-place=Flood & Son, Ltd, The Borough Press, Lowestoft |publisher=Royal Navy (HMS Orion) |page=26}}</ref>