Alan Marre

Alan Marre

Sir Alan Samuel Marre CB KCB (25 February 1914 - 20 March 1990) was a civil servant, serving most notably as Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and as the first Health Service Commissioner for England, Scotland and Wales.

Marre was the son of an immigrant tobacconist and was educated at St Olave's Grammar School in Orpington, Kent. He went to Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he achieved a double first.

He joined the Ministry of Health and was Assistant Principal in 1936. He became, in turn, Principal in 1941, Assistant Secretary in 1946 and then Under-Secretary between 1952 and 1963. Marre moved to the Ministry of Labour and served as Under-Secretary until 1964. He was appointed Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Health, where he stayed until 1966 when he returned to the Ministry of Labour as Deputy Secretary. In 1968, Marre became the Second Permanent Under-Secretary of State and the Department of Health and Social Security.

During his time at the Ministry of Health, Marre met Mary Gilling, a philosophy graduate. They became married and she became distinguished in her own right in both public and charitable life.