John Macnamara facts for kids

Colonel John Robert Jermain Macnamara (11 October 1905 – 22 December 1944) 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. He was the unsuccessful Conservative candidate at the May 1934 by-election in the Upton constituency in West Ham, and at the 1935 general election was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelmsford. He was also joint secretary, with the Liberal MP Wilfrid Roberts, of the Basque Children's Committee.

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.

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). 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.