- Henry d'Avigdor-Goldsmid
Major-General Sir Henry Joseph D'Avigdor-Goldsmid, Bt., DSO, MC, TD (often known as Harry,
10 June ,1909 –11 December ,1976 ) was a British army officer, company director and politician.The eldest son of Sir Osmond D'Avigdor Goldsmid (1st Baronet), D'Avigdor-Goldsmid went to
Harrow School and Balliol College, Oxford. He joined the Royal West Kent Regiment and theRoyal Artillery Corps, and was twicementioned in dispatches . He was awarded theDistinguished Service Order andMilitary Cross in 1945.Following the
Second World War , D'Avigdor-Goldsmid left the army and became a member ofKent County Council from 1946 to 1953. He was made aFreeman of the City of London and became aJustice of the Peace ,Deputy Lieutenant (1949) andHigh Sheriff (1953) of Kent. His business career as a banker and bullion broker was marked by being Chairman of the Anglo-Israel Bank from 1961, and Chairman ofPergamon Press from 1969 to 1971.At the 1955 general election, D'Avigdor-Goldsmid was elected as Conservative
Member of Parliament for Walsall South. He was recruited byDuncan Sandys , then Minister of Housing, to be hisParliamentary Private Secretary but held the post for only a year.Following the 1970 general election, D'Avigdor-Goldsmid was joined in the House of Commons by his younger brother James who won the nearby seat of Lichfield and Tamworth. In that Parliament, Henry served as Chairman of the Select Committee on Nationalized Industries and of that on Public Expenditure. In 1973 he was appointed a member of the Horserace Totalisator Board. He stood down from Parliament at the February 1974 general election.
References
*M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981)
*Obituary from "The Times", 13 December 1976.
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