Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Sir Cecil Bingham Levita (18 January 1867 – 10 October 1953) was a British soldier and public service worker who eventually rose to be chairman of the London County Council in 1928.

Career

British Army

Levita attended the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

and was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in 1886. He started his career as a soldier serving in the Second Matabele War and the Second Boer War where he was A.D.C. to Lieutenant-General Sir Baker Russell. He was later appointed a

special service "Special Service" is the sixty-fourth episode, and the twenty-seventh episode of the third season (1988–89), of the television series ''The Twilight Zone''. It was written by J. Michael Straczynski. In the episode, a man discovers that for the ...

officer and a D.A.A.G. in the Natal Field Force. He was

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

and awarded the Queen's medal with three clasps. He was created an MVO in 1901, and promoted to

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

5 February 1902. He retired from the army in October 1909. During the First World War he was recalled from the reserve to serve as

General Staff Officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

. After the war he was awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel and made a CBE for "valuable services rendered in connection with the War".

Politics

In 1910 Levita contested the St. Ives division of Cornwall in the

General Election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

as a Liberal Unionist but was unsuccessful. However, in 1911 he was elected at a by-election to the London County Council as a member of the Conservative-backed Municipal Reform Party, where he represented North Kensington for over 25 years. He sat on numerous committees including serving as chairman of the housing committee and chairman of the London County Council from 1928 to 1929. He was

Knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

at the end of his term as chairman for "public and political services". He was largely responsible for founding the King George Hospital in Ilford to serve the population of the large LCC estate at Becontree. Levita was appointed a KCVO in 1932

"Talking Mongoose Case"

His career was somewhat overshadowed by an episode in 1936 which became known as the "Talking Mongoose Case". Levita had alleged that

Richard S. Lambert Richard Stanton Lambert (25 August 1894 – 27 November 1981) was a biographer, popular historian and broadcaster. He was also the founding editor of ''The Listener'' and an employee of the BBC and CBC. His books mainly concern history and b ...

, the founding editor of '' The Listener'' was unfit to serve on the board of the British Film Institute (on which his wife served) because Lambert had published an article about a house which was supposedly haunted by Gef the talking mongoose. Lambert then brought an action for slander against Levita which he continued to pursue despite pressure from Sir Stephen Tallents, controller of administration and the chairman of the BBC Ronald Collet Norman who was a friend of Levita's. Lambert won substantial damages and the case prompted an enquiry launched by then Prime Minister into the rights of a public corporation to control the extraneous activities of their employees. The enquiry resulted in practices of the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

being implemented within the BBC.

Family

On 30 May 1917 Levita married Florence Woodruff, widow of George Aman of Bucharest and daughter of William Robb. The couple had one son and one daughter. He died at his home in Hove,

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

in October 1953 aged 86.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levita, Cecil 1867 births 1953 deaths English people of Polish descent Royal Artillery officers Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Members of London County Council British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army personnel of World War I Knights Bachelor Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People of the Second Matabele War Municipal Reform Party politicians Deputy Lieutenants of the County of London Conservative Party (UK) councillors Liberal Unionist Party parliamentary candidates