serviceyears branch death_date constituency_mp allegiance nationality birth_date term_end restingplace alma_mater death_place battles rank name predecessor parliament unit party military_blank successor article_title
1931 - 1940 23px british army 26 may 1940 heywood and radcliffe united kingdom united kingdom british 4 september 1910 1940 seclin -lrb- de bergault -rrb- communal cemetery cambridge university seclin , france battle of france captain richard whitaker porritt joseph cooksey jackson 1935 lancashire fusiliers conservative party -lrb- uk -rrb- killed in action james henry wootton-davies richard porritt -lrb- politician -rrb-

richard porritt -lrb- politician -rrb-

captain richard whitaker porritt -lrb- 4 september 1910 -- 26 may 1940 -rrb- was the member of parliament -lrb- mp -rrb- for heywood and radcliffe and became the first british mp to be killed in world war ii .
porritt was the son of lt.-colonel austin townsend porritt , td. , dl , jp and of annie louise porritt -lrb- née law-schofield -rrb- , of grange-over-sands , lancashire .
he was educated at marlborough college and was an honours graduate of cambridge university .
porritt was elected to heywood and radcliffe seat at the age of 24 in 1935 and was one of the youngest mps in the house of commons .
to commemorate the 1939 canadian royal tour of king george vi and queen elizabeth , porritt anonymously founded a $ 23,400 trust fund to aid fairbridge schools in canada .
porritt was in the officer training corps at marlborough and was commissioned in the lancashire fusiliers regiment of the british army in 1931 where he served in a territorial army unit .
during world war ii he served as a captain in the 1/5th bn of the lancashire fusiliers and was killed in action in 1940 .
he was killed in the town of seclin , near lille during the retreat to dunkirk one day after the order to evacuate the allied force from france in the wake of the german offensive .
the british army were retreating towards the channel coast at the time trying to establish a defensive line behind which the evacuation was being progressed .
whilst some sources claim ronald cartland was the first mp to be killed , official sources and others confirm that porritt was killed four days before cartland who was killed on 30 may 1940 in 1983 the town of seclin named ` square du captaine r.w. porritt ' in honour of him .
porritt lies nearby in the seclin -lrb- de bergault -rrb- communal cemetery .
