A . V . Alexander , 1st Earl Alexander of Hillsborough Albert Victor Alexander , 1st Earl Alexander of Hillsborough ( 1 May 1885 – 11 January 1965 ) was a British Labour Co - operative politician . He was three times First Lord of the Admiralty , including during the Second World War , and then Minister of Defence under Clement Attlee . Background . Born in Weston - super - Mare and one of four children , A . V . Alexander was the son of Albert Alexander , a blacksmith and later engineer who had moved from his native Wiltshire to Bristol during the agricultural depression of the 1860s and 1870s , and Eliza Jane Thatcher , daughter of a policeman . He was named after both his father and Prince Albert Victor , Queen Victoria ' s eldest grandson , but he was known as " A . V . " from a young age . His parents had settled in Weston when they married , but the family moved to Bristol after Albert Alexander ' s death in August 1886 . Alexander ' s mother worked as a corset - maker to provide for her children . Alexander attended Barton Hill School from the age of three , at a cost of two pence per week . Against his mother ' s wishes , he chose not to continue to St . George ' s Higher Grade School in 1898 , feeling the increased weekly charge of six pence was too expensive and that he would get nothing more from school . He began work aged thirteen , first for a leather merchant , and five months later as a junior clerk with the Bristol School Board . In 1903 he transferred to Somerset County Council ' s newly formed local education authority , where he worked in the School Management Department as a committee clerk . He was by this time a keen chorister and footballer , and a self - taught pianist . In later years , and until his death , Alexander was a vice - president of Chelsea F . C . – his role at the club was taken on by Richard Attenborough . Raised an Anglican , Alexander converted to the Baptist movement in 1908 after he married Esther Ellen Chapple , a school teacher and Baptist . They were married on 6 June 1908 . Their daughter , Beatrix , was born in 1909 , and their son lived from 1911 to 1913 . He joined the Weston Co - operative Society and became treasurer of the local Young Liberal Association in 1908 , and the local Trades and Labour Council in 1909 . He was elected to the board of the Weston Co - op Society in 1910 . He volunteered for service when the First World War began , but was not called - up until two years later . He joined the Artists Rifles , which principally served to train officers for assignment to other regiments . He trained in London and studied at Magdalen College , Oxford , before earning his commission in the Labour Corps in December 1917 . His health suffered during training , and he never saw active service , instead working as a posting officer in Lancashire . In November 1918 he was promoted to Captain , transferred to the General List , and became an education officer , preparing wounded soldiers for civilian life . He was demobbed in late 1919 . Within a year of returning home , he became vice - president of the Weston Co - op Society and secretary of the Somerset branch of NALGO . Parliamentary career . In late 1920 , Alexander applied for the position of Parliamentary Secretary to the Co - operative Union . He was selected out of 104 candidates , moving to London that November , and would hold the job until 1946 . In this role , he directed the presentation of the Co - op ' s position and interests to government bodies and Member of Parliament ( MPs ) . In July 1921 he campaigned directly to MPs to oppose a clause in the government ' s Finance Bill which would impose Corporation Tax on Co - ops . The government , which had a large majority , was defeated by two votes . Shortly after this , the Sheffield branch of the Co - operative Party invited Alexander to be their Parliamentary candidate . He was duly elected for Hillsborough in November 1922 , one of only four Co - op MPs . He was re - elected in 1923 , 1924 and 1929 . He would continue to represent Sheffield , with one break , until 1950 . In his maiden speech , Alexander criticised the Liberal Party for abandoning its progressive principles and championed economic theories that were central to the Labour Party ' s manifesto . The Labour leadership accepted him as a spokesman on a number of issues , though the Co - op was not affiliated to the Labour Party until 1927 . When Labour formed its first government in January 1924 , Ramsay Macdonald made Alexander Parliamentary Under - Secretary of State to the Board of Trade , under Sidney Webb and Emmanuel Shinwell . Alexander ' s responsibilities included the merchant navy , and answering Parliamentary Questions on all trade matters . The Co - op ' s Parliamentary Committee had an acting secretary in Alexander ' s place whilst he was in government , but he continued to take part in appeals to ministers . After the government fell in October 1924 , Alexander returned to working for the Co - op full - time . He became well known for his testimonies before government committees , and used the Co - op ' s Parliamentary Committee to help co - ordinate responses to government action during the General Strike . In Parliament , he became a front bench spokesman on trade , staunchly criticising the protectionist policies of the Chancellor of the Exchequer , Winston Churchill . He also spoke on agriculture , local government and on social security , where he called for increased welfare , citing the suffering of his own constituents during the depression . In early 1929 , Alexander applied for the position of General Secretary of the Co - operative Union , but was beaten by Robert Palmer . Within weeks , he became a member of the cabinet in the second Labour government . First Lord of the Admiralty . Although many had expected Alexander to be appointed President of the Board of Trade , this position went to William Graham , protégé of the Chancellor of the Exchequer , Philip Snowden . Instead , Alexander became First Lord of the Admiralty , the only Labour member to hold this position as a cabinet rank . The Admiralty was a political power in its own right , and usually able to resist pressure from the Treasury and from Downing Street . Macdonald ' s primary concern was international disarmament , and Alexander persuaded the Admiralty to reduce their demands for new cruisers as a prelude to negotiations aimed at ending naval rivalry with the U . S . A . . In January 1930 , a conference between the five major naval powers ( Britain , the US , France , Italy and Japan ) was held in London . This resulted in a treaty between Britain , America and Japan , to limit growth and maintain parity of their naval forces . In the spring of 1931 , Alexander and the Foreign Secretary , Arthur Henderson , negotiated France and Italy ' s entry into the treaty . Though Alexander came into conflict with the admiralty over expansion of the fleet , he defended it against criticism of its spending and staffing levels . He also introduced a system to make it easier for working - class recruits to become officers . During the economic crisis in mid - 1931 , Alexander supported Snowden ' s defence of free trade against Macdonald and Henderson ' s proposals for protectionism , but sided with Henderson against Snowden and Macdonald ' s proposed cuts in government spending , especially unemployment benefit . He organised the cabinet opponents to the cuts , who advocated a socialist economy . Faced with a cabinet split , the Prime Minister formed a coalition with the Conservative and Liberal parties . Snowden and a few others Labour MPs stayed with Macdonald , but the party went into Opposition . Alexander was prominent on the Opposition front bench , leading attacks on the government ' s policies , but was careful not to exploit the widespread dissatisfaction with pay cuts in the armed forces ( especially the Invergordon Mutiny ) , concerned that the military should not become involved in political matters . Effectively now number two after Henderson in the Parliamentary Labour Party , he was being talked of as a future leader . Both Alexander and Henderson lost their seats in the 1931 General Election . Henderson was succeeded by George Lansbury , and Alexander ' s contemporary , Clement Attlee , became deputy leader . For the next four years , Alexander ' s main role was again as the Co - op ' s Parliamentary Secretary . He led opposition to renewed government plans to impose Corporation Tax on co - op stores , a fight that was lost this time with the 1933 Finance Bill . He also worked to have consumer interests represented on the new agricultural marketing boards . He was active in the Brotherhood movement ( an organisation for nonconformists ) , spoke at rallies for the League of Nations , wrote columns for Reynolds ' News and gave lectures on the BBC . Regaining his Hillsborough seat in 1935 , Alexander became a front bench spokesman on trade and foreign affairs . Attlee , now leader of the PLP , asked him to join a new defence committee , working with Shinwell and Jack Lawson to reverse the pacifist ideals which had prevailed under Lansbury . Alexander had been warning of the dangers posed by fascism for several years , and criticised the government ' s policy of appeasement . In 1937 , with Hugh Dalton and Hastings Bertram Lees - Smith , he persuaded the PLP to put aside its mistrust of the Baldwin government and support the Service Estimates Bill which began rearmament . In October 1938 , he closed the debate on the Munich Pact , attacking the government ' s abandonment of the Sudeten Germans . Under Churchill and Attlee . Following the outbreak of World War II , Alexander , like all leading Labour figures , opposed forming a coalition government under Neville Chamberlain . Alexander firmly believed that Winston Churchill should replace Chamberlain as Prime Minister . He worked with Arthur Greenwood , and against Herbert Morrison , who favoured Lord Halifax as successor , to convince Attlee and the party ' s Executive to support Churchill . In the closing days of April 1940 , Churchill met with Alexander , Clement Attlee and Sir Archibald Sinclair to discuss the possibilities for a coalition government . Halifax ' s friend , Chips Channon , described this as Churchill prematurely forming his cabinet in the expectation of becoming PM . Two weeks later , on 10 May , Churchill was Prime Minister of a coalition government ; after forming his War Cabinet , which included Attlee and Greenwood , he invited Alexander and Sinclair , along with Anthony Eden , to head the three service ministries . Alexander returned to the Admiralty as First Lord , but like the other service ministers , was dominated by Churchill and existed very much in his shadow . It was a measure of Churchill ' s confidence in him that he was not given access to the secret information , nor was he allowed in the War Room . By appointing himself his own Minister of Defence , Churchill was well placed to exercise close supervision over the three services . An example was Churchill ' s decision to send Force Z including the battleship " Prince of Wales " and the battlecruiser " Repulse " to Singapore without , as it transpired , adequate air support . Both ships were sunk by the Japanese off the Malayan coast in December , 1941 . Both Alexander and the First Sea Lord , Dudley Pound had vigorously opposed this deployment but were overruled by Churchill . This decision was made before Pearl Harbor – the ships were sent east as a deterrent to Japanese aggression , at the request of the Australian government and British forces in the Far East . Initially an aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable was included , but she ran aground in the Caribbean , and was not replaced by HMS Hermes which was regarded as too slow . They were sunk immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack , before plans for their re - deployment in the light of actual hostilities with the Japanese could be decided upon and executed . Although Churchill had overall responsibility for the deployment , according to Richard Lamb , he ' had no responsibility for the fate of these two battleships ' . The Admiralty view , argued for by Alexander and Pound , was that the " Prince of Wales " and the " Repulse " would have been better deployed in the Atlantic to counter the threat from the " Tirpitz " , the " Scharnhorst " and the " Gneisenau " . Alexander performed his duties with energy and diligence . He was committed to the administrative duties of his role , often sleeping in his office , but also took a keen interest in the welfare of sailors . He joined an Arctic Convoy in 1942 , and visited troops a few days after D - Day in 1944 , the first British minister in France since the occupation in 1940 . His radio broadcasts and public appearance boosted morale and made him very popular inside and outside the service . As a working - class politician in a top position , he was an important figure for national unity . He had regular meetings with Churchill when in London , acting as an advisor ; they were good friends and Churchill arranged for Alexander to receive an Honorary Degree from the University of Bristol , of which Churchill was Chancellor . However , Alexander firmly supported Labour ' s withdrawal from the coalition in May 1945 , following victory in Europe . Campaigning in the election in July , he drew a sharp distinction between Churchill and the Conservative Party , suggesting that the Tories would sideline the wartime leader as they had done Lloyd George . A member of the Cabinet following Labour ' s victory , Alexander strongly supported the Foreign Secretary , Ernest Bevin , sharing his goals of maintaining Britain ' s influence and opposing the Soviet Union . Britain ' s wartime ally was admired at the time , and his outspoken criticisms of Russia lessened Alexander ' s popularity . In 1946 he deputised for Bevin at the Paris Peace Conference , and was part of the Cabinet delegation to India , under Stafford Cripps , exploring possibilities for independence . At the end of 1946 he became Minister of Defence , a role previously held only by Churchill and Attlee when they were serving as Prime Minister . Responsible for all three armed services , he often clashed with the Chief of the Imperial General Staff , Lord Montgomery . He was responsible for formulating the system of National Service and faced a protracted fight against Labour backbenchers who opposed the continuation of conscription in peacetime . In January 1947 he was one of six ministers on the Gen 75 Committee that secretly authorised Britain ' s nuclear programme ; in March he was in the negotiations for the Treaty of Dunkirk , laying the foundations for NATO . As the Cold War began , Alexander ' s criticisms of the USSR gained wider acceptance . In 1948 he became a Freeman of the City of Sheffield . Leader in the Lords . A . V . Alexander decided not to seek re - election in the 1950 General Election . He retired from the Commons and was raised to the peerage as Viscount Alexander of Hillsborough , of Hillsborough in the City of Sheffield , three months before his sixty - fifth birthday . For practical reasons , the Minister of Defence needed to be a member of the Commons , and Emmanuel Shinwell succeeded to this role . However , Alexander retained a seat in the cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster . Although he never made it into the " top five " of the Labour government ( Attlee , Bevin , Morrison , Dalton and Greenwood , later replaced by Cripps ) , he remained an influential member throughout . Out of office following Labour ' s defeat and his health starting to decline , Alexander retired from front - bench politics after the 1951 General Election . He bought a farm in Essex and , although he continued to attend the House of Lords , he did not hold any front - bench briefs for the next four years . In December 1955 , following the resignation of Lord Jowitt , Alexander was asked by Hugh Gaitskell to take over as leader of the small group of Labour peers . His appointment was strongly supported by Labour ' s faction in the upper House , and he served in this role for the next nine years . Alexander spoke on virtually every topic whilst leading the Opposition in the Lords . He supported the introduction of Life Peers , calling for them to be paid so that such appointments would be practical for working - class people . He also supported Tony Benn ' s campaign to renounce his peerage , and opposed Britain ' s early attempts to join the European Economic Community . Now a celebrity within the Co - op movement , Alexander continued to lobby for it in Parliament and with members of the government . In 1956 he became President of the UK Council of Protestant Churches . He often spoke on religious matters in the Lords , fiercely opposing closer relations between the Church of England and the Catholic Church and often quoting scripture at Lords Spiritual . He was created Baron Weston - super - Mare , of Weston - super - Mare in the County of Somerset , and Earl Alexander of Hillsborough in 1963 – the last man to be made an earl until Harold Macmillan became Earl of Stockton in 1984 – and was appointed a Knight of the Garter in 1964 . He finally stood down as leader of the Labour peers in the run - up to the General Election in October 1964 . His last appearance in the Lords was shortly before Christmas that year , when he fiercely defended Harold Wilson ' s foreign policy from Tory accusations of disloyalty . Aged 79 , Lord Alexander of Hillsborough died early in the new year , fourteen days before Winston Churchill . The peerages died with him as he had no sons .