A.P. Herbert

Sir Alan Patrick Herbert (24 September 1890 – 11 November 1971), usually known as A. P. Herbert or simply A. P. H., was an English humorist, novelist, playwright and law reform activist, and an Independent Member of Parliament for Oxford University from 1935 until 1950, when university constituencies were abolished. Born in Ashtead, Surrey, Herbert attended Winchester College and New College, Oxford, graduating as a 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 with 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 librettos for musicals. Elected as Independent MP for Oxford University in the 1935 general election, 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 World War II as a petty officer in the Royal Naval Auxiliary Patrol. He captained his river boat, the Water Gipsy, on the River Thames. In 1943, he joined a parliamentary commission to investigate the future of the Dominion of Newfoundland.