Alec Stratford Cunningham Reid | |
---|---|
Born | 1895 Wayland, Norfolk, United Kingdom |
Died | 26 March 1977 Valbonne, France |
Allegiance |
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Service/branch |
British Army Royal Air Force |
Rank | Captain |
Unit |
Royal Engineers No. 85 Squadron RAF |
Battles/wars | First World War |
Awards | Distinguished Flying Cross |
Other work | Member of Parliament |
Captain Alec Stratford Cunningham-Reid DFC (1895 – 26 March 1977), known in his early life as Alec Stratford Reid, was a British First World War flying ace credited with seven aerial victories. After the war, he entered politics as a Conservative, serving as a Member of Parliament (MP) for periods between 1922 and 1945.
Cunningham-Reid was born in Wayland, Norfolk, the son of the Reverend Arthur Morse Reid and his wife Agnes Celina Flower (1861–1941), a sister of Archibald Dennis Flower.
He joined the Royal Engineers during the First World War and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, transferring to the Royal Flying Corps. In August 1918, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the citation reading:
At the 1922 general election, Cunningham-Reid stood as the conservative candidate in Warrington, a Conservative-held borough constituency in Lancashire where the sitting member Sir Harold Smith was retiring. He won the seat with a comfortable majority in a two-way contest with the Labour Party candidate. However, at the next general election, in 1923, the addition of a Liberal Party candidate saw him lose to Labour's Charles Dukes.