Anthony Muirhead

Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony John Muirhead MC & Bar TD (4 November 1890 – 29 October 1939) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was educated at Eton College, the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was elected at the 1929 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wells in Somerset, and held the seat until his death in 1939, aged 48.

Anthony Muirhead MC TD MP
Member of Parliament for Wells
In office 1929–1939
Preceded by	Robert Sanders
Succeeded by	Dennis Boles
Under-Secretary of State for Air
In office 1937–1938
Preceded by	Philip Sassoon
Succeeded by	Harold Balfour
Personal details
Born	(1890-11-04)4 November 1890
Died	29 October 1939(1939-10-29) (aged 48)
Cause of death	Suicide
Resting place	Great Haseley, Oxfordshire, England
Political party	Conservative
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	British Army
Rank	Lieutenant-colonel
Unit	Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars 100th (Worcestershire and Oxfordshire Yeomanry) Field Brigade 53rd Anti-Tank Regiment
Awards	Military Cross (1917)

Military career

Having been a member of Oxford University Officers' Training Corps, Muirhead was commissioned into the Territorial Force (TF) on the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 as a Second lieutenant in the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars. He was promoted to Lieutenant in March 1915. He served as Aide-de-camp to Major-General Robert Fanshawe, General Officer Commanding 48th (South Midland) Division. He was promoted to Captain in May 1917 and was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in June that year. He became a General Staff Officer Grade 3 with 48th Divisional Headquarters in September 1917, and then was appointed Brigade major to 119th Brigade under the command of Brigadier-General Frank Percy Crozier. In January 1919 Muirhead was awarded a Bar to his MC for his service with 119th Bde at Armentières in the closing days of the war in 1918. He was promoted to Brevet Major in January 1919 and was also Mentioned in dispatches three times during the war.

After the war Crozier became an adviser to the Lithuanian Army in 1919–20 during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence, and Muirhead served as his chief of staff. In April 1920 Muirhead was appointed to the Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster-General's Department of the TF. In December 1924 he returned to the Oxfordshire Hussars, now the 100th (Worcestershire and Oxfordshire Yeomanry) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, in the part-time Territorial Army, with the regimental rank of major. In 1933 he was promoted Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel and in 1936 to lieutenant-colonel commanding the brigade. In 1938, the brigade became the 53rd (Worcestershire and Oxfordshire Yeomanry) Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery.

Political career

In the National Government of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, he held junior ministerial office as Under-Secretary of State for Air from 1937 to 1938, and as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for India and Burma from 1938 to 1939.

Death

Muirhead died as a result of suicide in 1939, purportedly out of fear that his leg injury would prevent him from seeing active service during the Second World War. He was buried in the churchyard at Great Haseley, Oxfordshire.

External links

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Anthony Muirhead
• Lives From The Haseley War Memorial