A. P. Herbert
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Sir Alan Patrick Herbert CH (24 September 1890 – 11 November 1971), usually known as A. P. Herbert, was an English humorist, novelist, playwright and law reform activist, and an Independent Member of Parliament for Oxford University from 1935 until 1950. Born in Ashtead, Surrey, he attended Winchester College and New College, Oxford, receiving a starred first in Jurisprudence in 1914. He joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as an ordinary seaman in World War I, later serving as an officer in the Royal Naval Division. He fought in Gallipoli and on the Western Front, becoming battalion adjutant in 1917, before injury excluded him from the front line. After the war, he published The Secret Battle and joined the staff of Punch in 1924. He also wrote libretti for musicals. As an MP Herbert campaigned for private member's rights, piloted the Matrimonial Causes Act 1937 through Parliament, opposed the Entertainments Duty, and campaigned against the Oxford Group. He joined the River Emergency Service in 1938 and served in the Second World War as a petty officer in the Royal Naval Auxiliary Patrol captaining a river boat on the River Thames. In 1943, he joined a parliamentary commission on the future of the Dominion of Newfoundland.
