Anthony Kershaw

Sir John Anthony Kershaw MC, DL (14 December 1915 – 29 April 2008) was a British Conservative Party Member of Parliament for 32 years, from 1955 to 1987. He served as a junior minister in the 1970s. He was also a barrister, World War II cavalry officer, amateur rugby player and company director.

Kershaw was born in Cairo, the second son of Jack F. Kershaw - a judge at the Cairo Court of Appeal - and his wife, Anne, who hailed from Kentucky. He was educated at Eton College, where he played cricket. His father died when he was 13, and his elder brother, Overton, two years later. Kershaw read law at Balliol College, Oxford, where he befriended his contemporary Edward Heath. He became a barrister, and was called to the Bar at Inner Temple in 1939.

He married Barbara Edith Crookenden - daughter of solicitor Harry Crookenden - in 1939. They had two daughters and two sons named Carolyn, Harry, Cecilia and George.

At the beginning of World War II, Kershaw served with the Thames River police, then was commissioned second lieutenant in the 16th/5th Lancers on 15 June 1940. He was promoted temporary captain, and landed in North Africa in November 1942 in Operation Torch. He served in tanks, and was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for his actions north of the Kasserine Gap in Tunisia in 1943. On 21 February 1943 he was a brigade staff officer (GSO3) with 26th Armoured Brigade (which comprised his own regiment amongst others) and had command of the brigade command tank. The brigadier was commanding from a scout car whose radio broke down. Kershaw, despite heavy machine gun and artillery fire, repeatedly ran from his tank, to the scout car, and back, to take the brigadier's orders, which he then relayed over the tank's radio. The following day, a German counterattack was believed to be imminent. Kershaw volunteered to man his tank, which had been disabled, to bring additional fire to bear on the advancing forces; despite its vulnerability to artillery fire as it was in full view on a road.

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