Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

James Harry Allason, (6 September 1912 – 16 June 2011) was a British

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician, sportsman, and former military planner who worked with

Lord Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of German ...

and

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living former member of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

Military career

The son of Brigadier General Walter Allason by his wife Katherine Hamilton Poland, daughter of Vice Admiral James Augustus Poland,Burke's Landed Gentry, eighteenth edition, vol. I, ed. Peter Townend, 1965, Burke's Peerage Ltd, p. 9 James Allason was raised primarily by a great-aunt following the death of his mother in 1913 protecting the infant James in a fall down stairs. Allason was a great-grandson of the architect

Thomas Allason Thomas Allason (1790–1852) was an English architect, surveyor and landscaper, noted in particular for his work at Connaught Square and the Ladbroke Estate in Kensington. Early life Allason was born in London, England, in 1790. He studie ...

. Allason was educated at

Haileybury and Imperial Service College Haileybury is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) near Hertford in England. It is a member of the Rugby Group and, though originally a major boys' public school in the Victorian era, it is now co-educational, enro ...

and the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

. He served as an officer in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

for 24 years from 1930 to 1954, including in India,

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He joined the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in 1932, transferring to the

3rd Carabiniers The 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales's Dragoon Guards) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1922 as part of a reduction in the army's cavalry by the amalgamation of the 3rd Dragoon Guards (Prince of Wales's) and the Carab ...

in 1937. A gifted mathematician, he addressed the problem of using magnetic compasses with tanks: the Allason Sun Compass was adopted for use throughout the Asian theatre. Allason worked with the Supreme Allied Commander, Admiral

Lord Louis Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of Germa ...

, as joint planning staff officer in

South East Asia Command South East Asia Command (SEAC) was the body set up to be in overall charge of Allies of World War II, Allied operations in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II, South-East Asian Theatre during the World War II, Second World War. Histo ...

and was wounded while commanding tanks during the Burma campaign. He subsequently occupied a similar post as senior military planner at the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

in London, answering

's queries and providing briefings in the

Cabinet War Rooms The Churchill War Rooms is a museum in London and one of the five branches of the Imperial War Museum. The museum comprises the ''Cabinet War Rooms'', a historic underground complex that housed a British government command centre throughout the ...

. His last planning task was to advise on the logistics of withdrawing from

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. From 1950 to 1954, he served at the

in charge of army discipline.

Political career

After leaving the army Allason worked as a

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gov ...

insurance broker. He was elected a councillor on Kensington Borough Council in 1956. Allason contested

Hackney Central Hackney Central is a sub-district of Hackney in the London Borough of Hackney in London, England and is four miles (6.4 km) northeast of Charing Cross. The Hackney Central area is focused on Mare Street and the retail areas to the north o ...

in 1955. He was

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a ne ...

(after defeating

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

for the Conservative nomination) from 1959 to 1974, when, following boundary changes, he narrowly lost the seat in the October election of that year to

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

's Robin Corbett. In government Allason was acknowledged for his expertise not only on defence but also in the arcane but key subject of pensions. When the Conservatives were in opposition, Allason was the front-bench spokesman on Housing for six years and is credited with development of the policy of enabling

council house A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 ...

tenants to purchase their own properties. That was taken up by Margaret Thatcher and adopted by subsequent Conservative governments, contributing to their electoral victories. After leaving parliament he continued to exercise a rational influence on environmental policy from positions on the executive of the

Town and Country Planning Association The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) is an independent research and campaigning charity founded and based in the United Kingdom. It works to enable homes, places and communities in which everyone can thrive. Through its research, tr ...

and the Environment Council's Transport Committee. After the deaths of Patrick Maitland, 17th Earl of Lauderdale, in December 2008 and

Bert Hazell Bertie Hazell, CBE (18 April 1907 – 11 January 2009), also known as Bert Hazell, was a British Labour Party politician and trade union activist. The son of a Norfolk farm worker, he left school at 14 to work on a farm in Wymondham, where hi ...

in January 2009, Allason became the oldest living former British Member of Parliament.

Personal interests

As a sportsman Allason raced Bentleys at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

, played polo with maharajahs in India, skied and sailed in international competition, and represented the House of Commons in five sports. He continued skiing until his 87th year, and continued to play

Contract Bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions o ...

and attend the Opera, on which subjects he wrote. In 1946, Allason married Nuala (who acted as Nuala McElveen and Nuala Barrie), daughter of John A. McArevey, of

Foxrock Foxrock () is an affluent suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is within the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, in the postal district of Dublin 18 and in the Roman Catholic parish of Foxrock. History The suburb of Foxrock was developed by William a ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. They had two sons, the younger of whom, the Intelligence historian

Rupert Allason Rupert William Simon Allason (born 8 November 1951) is a British former Conservative Party politician and professional author. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Torbay in Devon, from 1987 to 1997. He writes books and articles on the subj ...

, followed him into parliament as Member for

Torbay Torbay is a borough and unitary authority in Devon, south west England. It is governed by Torbay Council and consists of of land, including the resort towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, located on east-facing Tor Bay, part of Lyme ...

. Julian (1948–2015), the elder son, was a photographer and travel-writer, as well as vice-president of the

Anthony Powell Society The Anthony Powell Society is an international literary society dedicated to the works of English novelist Anthony Powell. Membership is open to all interested in ''A Dance to the Music of Time'' and Powell's other works. Powell was regarded by suc ...

. The marriage was dissolved in 1974. His wife continued to live at what had been their family home at

15 Cheyne Walk 15 Cheyne Walk is a Grade II* listed house on Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London, built in 1718. It was originally known as ''Carlton House''. It is considered to be a replica of 4 Cheyne Walk. Notable former residents include the landscape painter ...

in Chelsea. Allason also lived at Pump Lane House,

Bembridge Bembridge is a village and civil parish located on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight. It had a population of 3,848 according to the 2001 census of the United Kingdom, leading to the implausible claim by some residents that Bembridge ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

Notes

References

*''Times Guide to the House of Commons'', 1950, 1966 and October 1974 * *''Ringside Seat'', by James Allason, Timewell Press, London 2007

External links

*
Obituary in ''The Independent''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allason, James 1912 births 2011 deaths Officers of the Order of the British Empire Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Councillors in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Members of Kensington Metropolitan Borough Council British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery officers 3rd Carabiniers officers People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974