The son (one of five children) of Henry William Herbert, a chemist, and his wife Harriett Lizzie (née Elmes), of Egham, Surrey, Herbert was educated at
Queen's College, Taunton and the
Law Society's
Law School, from which he received his LL.B. Herbert served as director of postal and telegraph censorship for the
Ministry of Information during the
Second World War. He was elected President of the
Law Society in 1956. A
Knight Bachelor in 1943, Herbert was appointed a
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the
1956 Birthday Honours. He was also awarded the American
Medal for Merit and the
Norwegian King Haakon's liberty cross. This was in recognition of his work on the
Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London. The area that was to become what is now known as Greater London was controlled by the London, Surrey, Essex, Kent and Middlesex County Councils and a number of County Boroughs. The result was that the London and Middlesex County Councils and County Boroughs disappeared, and the areas covered by Essex and Surrey were reduced. The
Greater London Council was established as the strategic authority, with broad town planning and transport powers; below it were the City of London, basically covering the area it had always controlled, and thirty two new London Boroughs. They provided local town planning powers, local highways and inter alia social and housing powers. The GLC took over running the council housing that the London County Council had controlled. Herbert introduced
Thomas Graham Brown to
Frank Smythe in 1927. Herbert and Brown later climbed the Brenva face of
Mont Blanc. Herbert was President of the
Alpine Club from 1953 to 1956 and he chaired the
Everest committee when the world's highest peak was scaled for the first time. == Arms ==