Cuthbert Alport

The Right Honourable The Lord Alport PC DL
Member of Parliament for Colchester
In office 23 February 1950 – 16 February 1961
Preceded by	George Delacourt-Smith
Succeeded by	Antony Buck
Personal details
Born	22 March 1912
Died	28 October 1998 (aged 86)
Spouse	Rachel Bingham
Alma mater	Pembroke College, Cambridge

Cuthbert James McCall Alport, Baron Alport, PC, DL (22 March 1912 – 28 October 1998) was a Conservative Party politician, minister, and life peer.

Early life

"Cub" Alport was educated at Haileybury College, Haileybury, Hertfordshire, England, and graduated with a degree in History and Law from Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1934. He was elected President of the Cambridge Union the following year. Alport was a tutor at Ashridge College, Little Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, from 1935 to 1937. During the Second World War, he served in the British Army as an officer in the Royal Welch Fusiliers and the King's African Rifles, and was General Staff Officer 1 (GSO 1) of the East Africa Command between 1944 and 1945. He was made a Barrister-at-Law at the Middle Temple in 1944.

Political career

Alport was an assistant secretary for the Conservative Party Education Department between 1937 and 1939. He was Director of the Conservative Political Centre between 1945 and 1950. He was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for the Colchester constituency, in the 1950 general election and held the seat until 16 February 1961, when he was created Baron Alport, of Colchester in the County of Essex, a life peerage. On his elevation to the peerage, the Colchester constituency was held by the Conservatives in a by-election by Antony Buck.

Alport held the post of Assistant Postmaster-General between 1955 and 1957. He was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations between 1957 and 1959. He held the office of Minister of State for the Commonwealth Relations Office between 1959 and 1961. He was invested as a Privy Councillor in 1960. He held the office of British High Commissioner to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland between 1961 and 1963. He was appointed High Steward of Colchester in 1967 and he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Essex in 1974.

The grave of Lord and Lady Alport in the churchyard of St John the Baptist, Layer de la Haye, Essex.

Family Life

In 1945 he married Rachel, the great granddaughter of George Bingham, 4th Earl of Lucan. The marriage produced three children, two girls and one boy.

Published works

• Kingdoms in Partnership (1937)
• Hope in Africa (1952)
• The Sudden Assignment (1965)

Honorary Degrees

Lord Alport was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Essex in July 1997.

The Alport Papers

Lord Alport's correspondence and papers (the Alport Papers) are archived at the University of Essex library. Additional correspondence with Roy Welensky is archived at the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House, University of Oxford.

Arms

Coat of arms of Cuthbert Alport

Coronet A Coronet of a Baron Crest A Demi lion Or gorged with a Mural Crown Gules within a Norman Arch proper Escutcheon Barry wavy Argent and Azure on a Bend Or a Tudor Rose Argent on Gules between two Oyster Shells of the last Supporters Dexter: a Representation of a Roman Centurion supporting a Vexillum of the XXth Legion proper; Sinister: a Representation of an Ancient Briton proper Motto FERIO TEGO (I smite, I protect)

References

• Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Cuthbert Alport
• Portraits of Cuthbert Alport at the National Portrait Gallery, London