Michael Shersby - Early Life

Early Life

Shersby was born to Bill and Nora Shersby at his parents home at 9 Court Road, Ickenham (an area destined to become part of his Parliamentary constituency throughout his nearly 25 years as an MP) on 17 February 1933. Christened Julian Michael, he was known primarily as Michael by the age of ten. He had an older brother Dick (also known as Harold), an older sister Marjorie, and a younger brother Brian. Shersby's father Bill was employed for many years by the Port of London Authority, as an administration manager.

Shersby's parents were very keen for all of their four children to be academically successful. Accordingly, Michael Shersby first attended the local Breakspear primary state school and was later sent by his parents to The John Lyon School, an independent school in Harrow, for his secondary education. However, for a variety of reasons, Shersby left school at sixteen and in 1949 he started his working career in a humble clerical position at a company in London. Shersby continued to live with his family in Ickenham until 1958, when, at the age of 25, he married Barbara Barrow from West Drayton (also part of the Uxbridge constituency), and they moved to London. Shersby qualified as a trained Conservative party agent during the 1950s and worked in that capacity in his early 20s for a number of years before then pursuing a career in the British industrial film industry between 1958 and 1966 and then subsequently between 1966 and 1988 he was Director General of the British Sugar Bureau, the trade association of the British sugar industry.