Captain Napier George Henry Sturt, 3rd Baron Alington (1 November 1896 – 17 September 1940) was a

British peer The peerages in the United Kingdom are a legal system comprising both hereditary and lifetime titles, composed of various noble ranks, and forming a constituent part of the British honours system. The term '' peerage'' can be used both coll ...

, the son of Humphrey Sturt, 2nd Baron Alington. He was born in November 1896 in the St. Marylebone district of London. He succeeded to the Barony on 30 July 1919 on the death of his father. He owned the Crichel House estate in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

. He married Lady Mary Sibell Ashley-Cooper, daughter of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury, on 27 November 1928. They had one child: Mary Anna Sibell Elizabeth Sturt (b. 1929, d. 2010) who later fought the Government and won, leading to the resignation of a Minister, in the Crichel Down Affair. Alington may well be most notable for having dated

Tallulah Bankhead Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's '' L ...

in the 1920s. Alington was described as "well cultivated, bisexual, with sensuous, meaty lips, a distant, antic charm, a history of mysterious disappearances, and a streak of cruelty." His bisexuality was well known. He was a friend of the Polish composer Karol Szymanowski who dedicated his highly sensuous ''Songs of an infatuated Muezzin Op.42'' to the handsome young Englishman, on their publication in 1922. He had no male heir upon his death, so the title became extinct. The Crichel estate passed to his 11-year-old daughter

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

, who later married Commander George (known as "Toby") Marten.

War service

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he was a captain in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he served in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He was commissioned on 2 July 1940 as an officer in the Administrative and Special Duties Branch and was posted to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

, possibly serving as a staff officer at HQ Middle East. He died on 16 September 1940, aged 43, in Cairo on active service, of a short illness after

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

, and was buried in the New British Protestant Cemetery, Cairo, Egypt, plot E.221-222

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alington, Napier Sturt, 3rd Baron 1896 births 1940 deaths Barons Alington (third creation) Deaths from pneumonia in Egypt Bisexual men British bisexual people LGBT military personnel LGBT peers Royal Air Force group captains Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Air Force personnel of World War I English LGBT politicians Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers Younger sons of barons Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II 20th-century British LGBT people People from Marylebone Military personnel from London