1. Sir Alexander Russell "Alick" Downer was an Australian politician and diplomat.
16 Facts About Alick Downer
1. 2.
Alick Downer was a member of the House of Representatives between 1949 and 1963, representing the Liberal Party, and served as Minister for Immigration in the Menzies Government.
3.
Alick Downer was later High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1972.
4.
Alick Downer's father, Sir John Downer, was a Premier of South Australia and a member of the Australian Senate and was 66-years old at the time of his birth; he died when Alick was aged five.
5.
Alick Downer's mother was Una Russell, daughter of Henry Chamberlain Russell, who remarried when Alick was eight, to D'Arcy Wentworth Addison.
6.
Alick Downer was the godfather of Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales.
7.
Alick Downer practised as a barrister until joining the Australian Army in 1940.
8.
Alick Downer served in Malaya and was a prisoner-of-war for three years, where he set up a camp library and gave lessons to other prisoners.
9.
Alick Downer was promoted to sergeant due to these efforts, but the promotion was not recognised upon his release.
10.
Alick Downer served as Minister for Immigration from 1958 to 1963.
11.
Alick Downer retired from Parliament upon his appointment as Australian High Commissioner in London, a position he held until 1972.
12.
Alick Downer was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1965 Birthday Honours.
13.
Alick Downer was made a Freeman of the City of London in 1965.
14.
Alick Downer actively lobbied both the prime minister, William McMahon, and the British government directly, for a peerage of the UK Parliament.
15.
In 1932, Alick Downer bought the property known as Raywood in the Adelaide Hills, which he renamed Arbury Park after Arbury Hall, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire where his friends the Newdigate family lived.
16.
Alick Downer was responsible for the construction of the large Georgian mansion and extensive formal gardens and deer park, "which was important to his concept of the property as an English estate".