Alec Clegg

Sir Alexander Bradshaw Clegg (13 June 1909 – 20 January 1986), known as Alec Clegg, was an English educationalist. He was the innovative Chief Education Officer of the West Riding of Yorkshire County Council from 1945 to 1974.

Early life and education Clegg was born in Sawley, Derbyshire, the son of Samuel Clegg, a headmaster, and his wife Mary. He was educated at his father's school, Long Eaton County Secondary School, until the age of fifteen, when he became a boarder at Bootham School in York. He then studied modern languages at Clare College, Cambridge, where he took a second class in parts I (French and German) and II of the tripos. When he completed his degree he attended the London Day Training College. In 1936 he was appointed an administrative assistant to the Birmingham education committee. He was also a key founder of Bretton Hall College, which opened in 1949.

His focus was always on children as learners. Late in his career, in response to government proposals to raise the school leaving age, he became involved in 'The Terrace' project with Royston Lambert (headmaster of Dartington Hall School) and Michael Duane at Northcliffe School in Conisbrough (then in the West Riding), which aimed to provide an alternative means of secondary education for those among the school's pupils who had failed to respond to traditional teaching methods.

Personal life Clegg married Jessie Coverdale Phillips of West Hartlepool in 1940, and had three sons. He died in York in 1986.

Papers The collected papers of Sir Alec Clegg are held at West Yorkshire Archive Service in Wakefield.