Anthony Courtney

Commander Anthony Tosswill Courtney, OBE, RN (16 May 1908 – 24 January 1988) was a British Royal Navy officer and politician. While a Member of Parliament, he was a victim of a plot apparently instituted by the KGB to discredit him, which appeared to contribute to the loss of his seat. He was a leading member of the Conservative Monday Club.

Courtney studied at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth and the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. He joined the Navy at the age of 16, and served in it for thirty years. From 1925 he was a midshipman on HMS Renown, serving during the world tour of the Duke and Dutchess of York in 1926 - 27. In 1930 he was a sub lieutenant on HMS Cornwall serving on the China Station; at the end of the year he was promoted to lieutenant, and posted to HMS Malaya in the Home Fleet.

In 1933, Courtney studied Russian in Bessarabia and in 1934 qualified as an interpreter. He then qualified at HM Signal School in Portsmouth in signals and wireless telegraphy. He served briefly on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet in Plymouth, before becoming Flag Lieutenant (later Flag Lieutenant-Commander) to a Flag Officer commanding a squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet. He was acting Squadron Signals and Wireless Telegraphy Officer. During the first two years of the Second World War he was on the staff of the Admiral commanding the 3rd Battle Squadron and the North Atlantic Escort Force, based in Halifax, Canada.

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