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

British peer A Peerage is a form of crown distinction, with Peerages in the United Kingdom comprising both hereditary and lifetime titled appointments of various ranks, which form both a constituent part of the legislative process and the British hono ...

, 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 Crichel House is a Grade I listed Classical Revival country house near the village of Moor Crichel in Dorset, England. The house has an entrance designed by Thomas Hopper (architect), Thomas Hopper and interiors by James Wyatt. It is surrounded ...

estate in

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. He married Lady Mary Sibell Ashley-Cooper, daughter of

Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury (31 August 1869 – 25 March 1961) was an English peer, soldier, and public servant. He was the son of the Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 8th Earl of Shaftesbury, 8th Earl of Shaftesbury and Lady Harri ...

, 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 The Crichel Down affair was a British political scandal of 1954, with a subsequent effect and notoriety. The '' Crichel Down Rules'' are guidelines applying to compulsory purchase drawn up in the light of the affair. Crichel Down land The case ce ...

. 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 films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Lifeboat (194 ...

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

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

ity was well known. He was a friend of the Polish composer

Karol Szymanowski Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 3 October 188229 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernism (music), modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. Szymanowski's early w ...

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 female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

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

War service

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he was a captain in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he served in the

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) in the event of another war. The Air Ministry intended it to form a supplement to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force ( ...

. He was commissioned on 2 July 1940 as an officer in the Administrative and Special Duties Branch and was posted to

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, 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 Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

, 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 British bisexual men Bisexual military personnel British LGBTQ military personnel LGBTQ 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 LGBTQ politicians Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers Younger sons of barons Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II 20th-century British LGBTQ people People from Marylebone Military personnel from the City of Westminster Nobility from London