{{Short description|British soldier, politician and diplomat}} {{Redirect|Antony Head|the actor|Anthony Head}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}} {{Use British English|date=August 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Viscount Head | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCMG|CBE|MC|PC}} | image = 130px 150px | image_size = | order1 = Secretary of State for War | term_start1 = 31 October 1951 | term_end1 = 18 October 1956 | monarch1 = George VI <br /> Elizabeth II | prime_minister1 = Winston Churchill <br /> Anthony Eden | predecessor1 = John Strachey | successor1 = John Hare | order2 = Minister of Defence | term_start2 = 18 October 1956 | term_end2 = 9 January 1957 | monarch2 = Elizabeth II | prime_minister2 = Sir Anthony Eden | predecessor2 = Walter Monckton | successor2 = Duncan Sandys | birth_name = Antony Henry Head | birth_date = {{birth-date|19 December 1906|}} | birth_place = London, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1983|3|29|1906|12|19|df=yes}} | death_place = Bishopstone, Salisbury, England | party = Conservative | alma_mater = Royal Military College, Sandhurst | spouse = Lady Dorothea Ashley-Cooper }} '''Antony Henry Head, 1st Viscount Head''', (19 December 1906 – 29 March 1983) was a British soldier, Conservative politician and diplomat.
==Background and education== Head was born in London on 19 December 1906, the son of Geoffrey Head and Ethel Daisy, daughter of Arthur Flower.<ref name = ODNB>{{cite ODNB|title =Head, Antony Henry, first Viscount Head (1906–1983), army officer and politician|last = Colville|first = John|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/31214|date = 2004}}</ref> He was educated at Ludgrove School,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barber |first1=Richard |title=The Story of Ludgrove |date=2004 |publisher=Guidon Publishing |location=Oxford |isbn=0-9543617-2-5 |page=189}}</ref> Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.<ref name = ODNB/>
==Military career== A career soldier, Head was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars on 30 August 1926.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33198 |page=5765 |date=3 September 1926}}</ref> He later joined the Life Guards, serving through the Second World War and achieving the rank of brigadier. He was awarded the Military Cross (MC) on 20 December 1940.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=35020 |supp=y |page=7197 |date=20 December 1940}}</ref> He was part of the British delegation to the Potsdam Conference.<ref name = ODNB/>
==Political career== Head was elected Conservative MP for Carshalton in 1945.<ref name = ODNB/> He served as Secretary of State for War from 1951 to 1956 and as Minister of Defence (with a seat in the cabinet) from 1956 to 1957,<ref>{{cite web |title=Mr Anthony Head (Hansard) |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-anthony-head/index.html |website=Hansard |access-date=29 January 2021}}</ref> in the administrations of Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1951 and in 1960 he was raised to the peerage as '''Viscount Head''', of Throope in the County of Wiltshire.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=42108 |date=2 August 1960 |page=5321}}</ref>
He was later High Commissioner to Nigeria from 1960 to 1963 and High Commissioner to Malaysia from 1963 to 1966, where he unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate Singapore's continued status as part of Malaysia. In line with British foreign policy, he advocated for a peaceful and constitutional solution to the tensions between Malaysia and Singapore according to Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew.<ref>{{cite book |last= Lee|first= Kuan Yew|date= 14 October 1998|title= The Singapore Story|url= https://archive.org/details/the-singapore-story-memoirs-of-lee-kuan-yew/mode/1up|location= Internet Archive|publisher= Prentice Hall|page= 20|isbn= 981 204 983 5|archive-url= https://archive.org/details/the-singapore-story-memoirs-of-lee-kuan-yew/mode/1up|archive-date= 13 October 2015|access-date=}}</ref> He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 1961 New Year Honours<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=42231 |date=27 December 1960 |page=8892 |supp=y}}</ref> and promoted to be Knight Grand Cross (GCMG) in 1963.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=43052 |date=12 July 1963 |page=5883}}</ref>
==Family== Head married Dorothea Louise (1907–1987), daughter of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury, on 23 July 1935.<ref name = ODNB/> They had four children. Head lived at Throope Manor in Bishopstone, Salisbury, and died there on 29 March 1983, aged 76.<ref name = ODNB/> He was succeeded in the viscountcy by his eldest son, Richard Antony Head, 2nd Viscount Head.<ref name = ODNB/>
==Arms== {{Infobox COA wide |image = {{center|130px 150px}} |escutcheon = Sable a chevron Argent between two unicorns' heads couped in chief and in base as many arrows in saltire and filed by a ducal crown Or. |crest = A unicorn's head couped Sable armed and crined Or between two arrows erect points downward of the last. |supporters = On either side a Staffordshire terrier Sable gorged with a dog collar Or. |motto = Study Quiet <ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=2000}}</ref> }}
==References== {{reflist|30em}} *Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990. *{{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}}
== External links == *[https://generals.dk/general/Head/Antony_Henry/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II] * {{hansard-contribs | mr-anthony-head | the Viscount Head }} <!-- yes, the link is spelt antHony -->
{{S-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-new | constituency}} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Carshalton | years = 1945–1960 }} {{s-aft | after = Walter Elliot }} {{s-dip}} {{succession box | title=High Commissioner to Nigeria | years= 1960–1963 | before= None | after= Sir Francis Cumming-Bruce | }} {{succession box | title=British High Commissioner to Malaysia | years= 1963–1966 | before= Sir Geofroy Tory | after=Sir Michael Walker }}
{{s-off}} {{succession box | title=Secretary of State for War | years=1951–1956 | before=John Strachey | after=John Hare }} {{succession box | title=Minister of Defence | years=1956–1957 | before=Walter Monckton | after=Duncan Sandys }} {{s-reg|uk}} {{s-new | creation }} {{s-ttl | title=Viscount Head | years=1960–1983 }} {{s-aft | after=Richard Head }} {{S-end}} {{Secretary of State for Defence}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Head, Antony Head, 1st Viscount}} Category:15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars officers Category:1906 births Category:1983 deaths Category:British Army brigadiers of World War II Category:British Life Guards officers Category:Secretaries of state for war (UK) Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Category:High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Malaysia Category:High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Nigeria Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Ministers in the Eden government, 1955–1957 Category:Officers of the Order of St John Category:People educated at Eton College Category:Recipients of the Military Cross Category:UK MPs 1945–1950 Category:UK MPs 1950–1951 Category:UK MPs 1951–1955 Category:UK MPs 1955–1959 Category:UK MPs 1959–1964 Category:UK MPs who were granted peerages Category:Viscounts created by Elizabeth II Category:People educated at Ludgrove School