Albert Napier

Sir Albert Napier
Permanent Secretary to the Lord Chancellor's Department
In office
1944 – 4 June 1954
Nominated byLord Simon
Appointed byLord Simon
Preceded bySir Claud Schuster
Succeeded bySir George Coldstream
Personal details
Born4 September 1881
Died18 July 1973
NationalityBritish
RelationsRobert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala
Alma materNew College, Oxford
ProfessionBarrister, civil servant

Sir Albert Edward Alexander Napier KCB KCVO QC (4 September 1881 – 18 July 1973) was a British civil servant who served as Permanent Secretary to the Lord Chancellor's Department between 1944 and 1954. The youngest son of Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala, Albert Napier studied at Eton College and New College, Oxford before being called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1909. In 1915 he became Private Secretary to the Lord Chancellor, and in 1919 Assistant Secretary to the Lord Chancellor's Office.

In 1944 he succeeded Claud Schuster as Permanent Secretary to the Lord Chancellor's Office and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery. As secretary of the Rushcliffe Committee which produced the report on legal aid and Permanent Secretary of the department tasked with enacting the proposed system, Napier has been described as the "midwife to civil legal aid".[1] Despite this his achievements are consistently overlooked, as he came between two particularly strong and influential Permanent Secretaries, Claud Schuster and Sir George Coldstream. He retired on 4 June 1954, with Coldstream succeeding him, and died on 18 July 1973.

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