Lieutenant Colonel Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave was a British soldier, lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP) from 1953 until his assassination in 1979.
Occupation
politician, jurist, soldier
Position held
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, member of the 47th Parliament of the United Kingdom, member of the 46th Parliament of the United Kingdom, member of the 45th Parliament of the United Kingdom
Lieutenant Colonel Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave, (23 January 1916 – 30 March 1979) was a British soldier, lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP) from 1953 until his assassination in 1979.
During World War II he was the first British prisoner-of-war to succeed in escaping from Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle, and later worked for MI9. After the war he served with the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg trials. He later became Conservative MP for Abingdon.
Neave was assassinated in a car bomb attack at the House of Commons. The Irish National Liberation Army claimed responsibility.
Early life
Neave was the son of Sheffield Airey Neave CMG, OBE (1879–1961), an entomologist, who lived at Ingatestone, Essex, and his wife Dorothy, the daughter of Arthur Thomson Middleton. His father was the grandson of Sheffield Neave, the third son of Sir Thomas Neave, 2nd Baronet (see Neave baronets).
