Richard Whitaker Porritt

Infobox MP
name = Richard Whitaker Porritt
honorific-suffix =


caption =
constituency_MP =Heywood and Radcliffe
parliament =1935
majority =
term_start =
term_end =1940
predecessor =Joseph Cooksey Jackson
successor =James Henry Wootton-Davies

birth_date = 4 September, 1910
birth_place =
death_date =26 May, 1940
death_place = Seclin, France
restingplace = Seclin (De Bergault) Communal Cemetery
restingplacecoordinates =
birthname =
nationality = British
party = Conservative Party (UK)
otherparty =
spouse =
partner =
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater = Cambridge University
occupation =
profession =
net worth =
cabinet =
committees =
portfolio =
religion =


website =
footnotes =
blank1 =
data1 =
blank2 =
data2 =
blank3 =
data3 =
blank4 =
data4 =
blank5 =
data5 =
nickname =
allegiance = flagicon|United Kingdom United Kingdom
branch =
serviceyears = 1931 - 1940
rank = Captain
unit = Lancashire Fusiliers
commands =
battles = Battle of France
awards =
military_blank1 = Killed in action
Captain Richard Whitaker Porritt (4 September 1910 – 26 May 1940) was the Member of Parliament for Heywood and Radcliffe and became the first British MP to be killed in World War II. [cite news
author=
title=Blue Blood in Flanders
date=1940-06-17
work=Time Magazine
url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,789876-2,00.html
accessdate=2008-08-10]

Porritt was the son of Lt.-Colonel Austin Townsend Porritt, TD., DL, JP and of Annie Louise Porritt (nee Law-Schofield), of Grange-over-Sands, Lancashire. He was educated at Marlborough College and was an Honours Graduate of Cambridge University. Porritt was elected to Heywood and Radcliffe seat at the age of 24 in 1935 and was one of the youngest MPs in the House of Commons. To commemorate the 1939 Canadian royal tour of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, Porritt anonymously founded a $23,400 trust fund to aid Fairbridge schools in Canada. [ [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XEck-gDiSMMC&pg=PA146&lpg=PA146&dq=%22Richard+Porritt%22+MP&source=web&ots=8Xd8EcbAo-&sig=6JWyn15eZwvRk81PuTZFTTViRGg&hl=en#PPA146,M1 Finty, The Story of a Unique Okanagan Landmark. Stan Sauerwein with Arthur Bailey] ]

Porritt was in the Officer Training Corps at Marlborough and was commissioned in the Lancashire Fusiliers regiment of the British Army in 1931 where he served in a Territorial Army unit. [LondonGazette|issue=33769|startpage=7157|date=6 November 1931|accessdate=2008-05-17] During World War II he served as a captain in the 1/5th Bn of the Lancashire Fusiliers and was killed in action in 1940. [http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2776792 CWGC entry for Richard Porritt] ] He was killed in the town of Seclin, near Lille during the retreat to Dunkirk one day after the order to evacuate the allied force from France in the wake of the German offensive. The British Army were retreating towards the channel coast at the time trying to establish a defensive line behind which the evacuation was being progressed.

Whilst some sources claim Ronald Cartland was the first MP to be killed, official sources and others confirm that Porritt was killed four days before Cartland who was killed on the 30th May 1940 [ [http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2726329 CWGC entry for Ronald Cartland] ]

In 1983 the town of Seclin named 'Square du Captaine R.W. Porritt' in honour of him. [ [http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/153/153344_medals_of_hero_mp_for_auction.html Medals of Hero MP up for auction. Manchester Evening News. 4 April 2005] ] Porritt lies nearby in the Seclin (De Bergault) Communal Cemetery.

References

External links

* [http://www.lancs-fusiliers.co.uk/feature/HarryWroe/hw023.jpgPicture of the Town Square named after Captain Porritt]