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Colonel John Robert Jermain Macnamara (11 October 1905 – 22 December 1944)^[1] was a British Conservative Party politician and officer of the British Army who was killed while fighting in Italy during the Second World War. He was the last sitting MP to die in combat.

Politics

Macnamara was educated at Haileybury where he was a member of the Officer Training Corps.^[2]^[3] He was the unsuccessful Conservative candidate at the May 1934 by-election in the Upton constituency in West Ham,^[4] and at the 1935 general election was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelmsford.^[1]^[4] He was also joint secretary, with the Liberal MP Wilfrid Roberts, of the Basque Children's Committee.^[5]

Macnamara's personal assistant in 1935–36 was Guy Burgess, later exposed as a Soviet spy. Macnamara was a member of the Anglo-German Fellowship, some of whose members were pro-Nazi. Burgess gained the confidence of Macnamara and they organized a series of sex tours abroad, especially to Germany where Macnamara had ties with the Hitler Youth. Burgess managed to gain contacts with highly placed homosexuals, like Edouard Pfeiffer, the chief private secretary of Édouard Daladier, French War Minister, an agent of the 2nd Office and of MI6. Macnamara and Burgess were invited on several occasions to pleasure parties at Pfeiffer's or to Parisian nightclubs.^[6]^[7]^[8]

Macnamara had initially expressed great admiration for Nazi Germany, proclaiming that "Hitler will be able to do nothing wrong for us." By 1935, however, after visiting Dachau concentration camp, he had changed his mind.^[9] In 1936, he told the House of Commons that while he did not believe the police were fascists, he viewed antisemitism as wrong.

"I come now to the question of Jew-baiting. All Members on this side of the House deprecate the tendency to Jew-baiting just as much as do the Mover of the Amendment and all other hon. Members opposite. It is very unfortunate that this tendency has arisen in this country. It is ungentlemanly and very un-English, and I very much hope that we shall all be able to use our influence, and, if necessary, our force, to stop a very horrid evil that seems to be creeping in. The Fascists undoubtedly are offenders in this respect, but, because certain Fascists are going into this Jew-baiting, it may not necessarily be fair to level a charge of Jew-baiting at Fascists in general. I am not defending the Fascists, but I am defending the police in their conduct at Fascist meetings. When the police go to a Fascist meeting, they cannot stop a Fascist from speaking."^[10]

Military career

On 11 January 1924, he joined the Territorial Army (TA), the part-time reserve element of the British Army, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 3rd (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers).^[2] His service number was 28393.

During the Second World War, he commanded the 1st Battalion, London Irish Rifles, another TA battalion, which was affiliated to the Royal Ulster Rifles. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of colonel. The battalion was initially assigned to the 168th (London) Infantry Brigade, part of the 56th (London) Infantry Division, nicknamed "The Black Cats", and fought in the Italian theatre of war. In December 1944, Colonel Macnamara was visiting Italy and was with the 1st London Irish who were moving into the Senio Line to relieve a Gurkha battalion. He was watching men of the battalion move up to the line in company with Major M. V. S. Boswell when a sudden German mortar bombardment fell on the area. Macnamara and Lieutenant J. Prosser MC were killed while Major Boswell was wounded. Colonel Macnamara was laid to rest in Forlì War Cemetery.^[11]

References

^ ^a ^b "House of Commons constituencies beginning with "C" (part 3)". Leigh Rayment's House of Commons pages. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ ^a ^b London Gazette 32924
^ "Haileybury Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 22 September 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
^ ^a ^b Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 275, 349. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
^ "Stoneham Camp". Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
^ A History of homosexuality in Europe : Berlin, London, Paris, 1919 - 1939, Florence Tamagne, p 91 - 92, 2004, Paris
^ "A camp history of Westminster's queer MPS". 8 June 2021.
^ Bloch, Michael (28 May 2015). Closet Queens: Some 20th Century British Politicians. Little, Brown Book. ISBN 9781405517010.
^ "The Glamour Boys". www.keymilitary.com. 29 October 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
^ "Police, England And Wales". Hansard. 10 July 1936.
^ CWGC entry