Rupert De la Bère

{{Short description|British businessman, soldier and Conservative Party politician}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix =

| name= Sir Rupert De la Bère

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|Bt|KCVO|KStJ}}

| office = Lord Mayor of London

| term_start = 1952

| term_end = 1953

| constituency_MP2 = South Worcestershire

| parliament2 = United Kingdom

| term_start2 = 1950

| term_end2 = 26 May 1955

| successor2 = Peter Agnew

| constituency_MP3 = Evesham

| parliament3 = United Kingdom

| term_start3 = 14 November 1935

| term_end3 = 1950

| predecessor3 = Sir Bolton Eyres-Monsell

| birth_name =

| birth_date = 16 June 1893

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1978|02|25|1893|06|16|df=yes}}

| death_place =

| party = Conservative

}}

Sir Rupert De la Bère, 1st Baronet (16 June 1893 – 25 February 1978{{Rayment-hc|e|2|date=March 2012}}{{Rayment-hc|w|5|date=March 2012}}) was a British businessman, soldier, and Conservative Party politician. He was the 625th Lord Mayor of London.

Biography

He was the son of Reginald De la Bère from Addlestone in Surrey,{{cite book

|last1=Stenton

|first1=Michael

|last2=Lees

|first2=Stephens

|title=Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume IV, 1945–1979

|year=1981

|publisher=The Harvester Press

|location=Brighton

|isbn=0-85527-335-6

|page=91

}}

educated at Tonbridge School, and during World War I served overseas with the East Surrey Regiment and the Royal Air Force.

After the war he became a director of Hay's Wharf and an Alderman of the City of London for the Tower ward.

He was elected a Sheriff of the City of London for 1941-42 and the Lord Mayor of London for 1952–53. He was the first member of the Skinners Company to hold the office of Lord Mayor since Sir Robert Kite in 1766, and no other Skinner has been Lord Mayor since.{{cite web |url=http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/5C61458D-4D0A-4C07-AE3E-90C1C20B1E71/0/LH_HC_lordmayors1189.pdf |title=Lord Mayors of the City of London from 1189 |publisher=City of London |accessdate=28 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101214115618/http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/5C61458D-4D0A-4C07-AE3E-90C1C20B1E71/0/LH_HC_lordmayors1189.pdf |archivedate=14 December 2010 |df=dmy-all }}

He was elected at the 1935 general election as the Member of Parliament for Evesham,{{cite book

|last=Craig

|first=F. W. S.

|authorlink= F. W. S. Craig

|title=British parliamentary election results 1885–1918

|origyear=1974

|edition= 2nd

|year=1989

|publisher= Parliamentary Research Services

|location=Chichester

|isbn= 0-900178-27-2

|page=501

}}

and held the seat until the constituency was abolished at the 1950 general election.{{Clarify|the constituency was distributed elsewhere not abolished by "election"|date=August 2018}} He was then elected for the new South Worcestershire constituency, and held that seat until he stood down at the 1955 general election.

He was knighted in June 1952,{{London Gazette|issue=39555|page=3008|supp=y|date=30 May 1962}} appointed Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in the Coronation Honours of June 1953,{{London Gazette|issue=39863|page=2946|supp=y|date=1 June 1963}} and a baronet (of Crowborough) in November 1953.{{London Gazette |issue=40022 |date=20 November 1953 |page=6287}} He was appointed Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark), Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and Knight of the Order of the Polar Star (Sweden).

In 1919, he married Marguerite Humphery, daughter of Sir John Humphery. She died in 1969.

{{Infobox COA wide

|image = de la Bere Escutcheon.png

|escutcheon = Argent on a fess between three crescent Sable a lizard of the field.

|motto = Prest Pour Le Roy (Ready For The King)

|crest = Issuant from an ancient crown Or a plume of five ostrich feathers Argent charged with a ladybird Proper.{{cite book|title=Burke's Peerage |date=2003}}}}