Cyril William Hurcomb, 1st Baron Hurcomb, (18 February 1883 – 7 August 1975) was a British

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

Career

Hurcomb was

Permanent Under-Secretary A permanent under-secretary of state, known informally as a permanent secretary, is the most senior civil servant of a ministry in the United Kingdom, charged with running the department on a day-to-day basis. Permanent secretaries are appointe ...

of the

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

from 1927 to 1937; of the Ministry of Shipping from 1939; and then of its successor the

Ministry of War Transport The Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) was a department of the British Government formed early in the Second World War to control transportation policy and resources. It was formed by merging the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Transpor ...

from 1941 until 1947. He was the first chairman of the

British Transport Commission The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the s ...

between 1948 and 1953. He was also a keen

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

and conservationist, and played a key role in the 1954 Protection of Birds Act. He served as chairman of the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

' council, as president of the RSPB, and president of the

West Midland Bird Club The West Midland Bird Club is the UK's largest regional ornithological society. It has been serving birdwatchers and ornithologists in the four English counties of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and (since its separation from the ...

from 1960 to 1975 (when he was succeeded by his

son-in-law In law and in cultural anthropology, affinity is the kinship relationship created or that exists between two people as a result of someone's marriage. It is the relationship each party in the marriage has to the family of the other party in th ...

Tony Norris Cuthbert Antony Norris (9 January 1917 in Cradley, Worcestershire – 25 February 2005 in Worcester) was an English ornithologist. He was a member of the RSPB's council in the 1950s and 1960s, chairing its finance and general purposes committee ...

, the husband of his daughter Cicely Hurcomb (d. 1976). In July 1950 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Hurcomb, of Campden Hill in the Royal Borough of Kensington. He was awarded by the Netherlands with a Grand Officer in the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

by Royal Decree no. 34 of 13 January 1947 ("in recognition of services to Netherlands interests during the war").. For this he retained British permission to accept and wear on 19 January 1948. He was also a Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) and Grand Cross of the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav (; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II, known to posterity as St. Olav. Just be ...

. The BR Standard Class 7 locomotive number 70001 was named ''Lord Hurcomb'' in his honour.

Personal life

Hurcomb died in August 1975, aged 92; the barony became extinct.

Bibliography

* Hurcomb wrote the

foreword A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing, sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurcomb, Cyril 1883 births 1975 deaths British ornithologists Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Grand Officers of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Presidents of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds British Transport Commission 20th-century British zoologists Barons created by George VI