John Langford-Holt

Who was John Langford-Holt?

Sir John Anthony Langford-Holt was a British Conservative Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury from 1945 to 1983. Unlike most other members of Parliament, Sir John made it clear that he would never seek ministerial office and would refuse it he were offered such a post.

He was born in Studdale, Waldershare, Kent on 30 June 1916 and educated at Shrewsbury School. During the war, he served as a pilot, first in the Battle of Britain and later with the Fleet Air Arm.

During his political career, his positions included serving on the Parliamentary Science Committee, the Estimates Committee, the Expenditure Committee and the Select Committee on Defence. During Churchill's later years, he was entrusted by the Tory Whips to look after the grand old man himself.

He married Elisabeth Neustadtl in 1943. The couple were divorced in 1951, and she remarried Major Robert Rivers-Bulkeley. In 1953, he remarried Flora Stuart until the marriage dissolved in 1969. Following this, he was married for the last time to Irene Kerr. He died in London on 23 July 1993.