Auckland Geddes, 1st Baron Geddes

The Right Honourable The Lord Geddes GCMG KCB PC
President of the Board of Trade
In office 26 May 1919 – 19 March 1920
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Sir Albert Stanley
Succeeded by	Robert Horne
British Ambassador to the United States
In office 1920–1924
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George Bonar Law Stanley Baldwin Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by	The Viscount Grey of Fallodon
Succeeded by	Sir Esme Howard
Personal details
Born	Auckland Campbell Geddes 21 June 1879 (1879-06-21) London, England
Died	8 June 1954 (1954-06-09) (aged 74) London, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Isabella Ross
Children	5; including Margaret, Princess of Hesse and by Rhine

Auckland Campbell Geddes, 1st Baron Geddes, GCMG, KCB, PC, FRSE (21 June 1879 – 8 June 1954) was a British academic, soldier, politician and diplomat. He was a member of David Lloyd George's coalition government during the First World War and also served as Ambassador to the United States.

Early life

Geddes was born in London the son of Auckland Campbell-Geddes, a civil engineer, and his wife Christina Helen MacLeod Anderson.^[1] He was the brother of Sir Eric Campbell-Geddes, First Lord of the Admiralty during World War I and principal architect of the Geddes Axe, which led to the retrenchment of British public expenditure following the War. His sister was Dr. Mona Chalmers Watson, the first woman to graduate M.D. from the University of Edinburgh and the first Chief Controller of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.^[2]

Career

Boer War

Geddes served in the Second Boer War in South Africa between 1901 and 1902 as a second lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry. On 2 June 1902 he was promoted a lieutenant in the 3rd (Militia) battalion of the regiment,^[3] and he returned home with other men of this battalion on the SS Doune Castle in September 1902, after the war had ended two months earlier.^[4]

Academic career

Geddes was educated at George Watson's College, in Edinburgh. He then studied Medicine at Edinburgh University^[5] graduating MB ChB in 1903. From 1906 to 1909, Geddes was an Assistant Professor of Anatomy at Edinburgh University. The university gave him his doctorate (MD) in 1908.^[6]

In 1909 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. his proposers were William Turner (anatomist), Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, David Waterston and George Chrystal.^[7] From 1913 to 1914 he was a Professor of Anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. From 1913 to 1914, he was a Professor of Anatomy at McGill University. His academic career was interrupted by the First World War during which he served as a Brigadier General in the War Office.^[8]

First World War

During the First World War he served as a Major in the 17th Northumberland Fusiliers^[9] and was on the staff of the General Headquarters in France as a Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel and Honorary Brigadier General.^[10] Geddes was Director of Recruiting at the War Office from 1916^[11] to 1917.^[12]

Political and diplomatic career

In 1917 he was elected Unionist Member of Parliament for Basingstoke, a seat he held until 1920. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1917^[13] and served under David Lloyd George as Director of National Service from 1917 to 1918, as President of the Local Government Board from 1918 to 1919, as Minister of Reconstruction in 1919 and as President of the Board of Trade (with a seat in the cabinet) from 1919 to 1920.^[10]

Geddes was appointed Principal of McGill University in 1919 but never undertook his official duties.^{[citation needed]} He resigned in 1920 when he was appointed British Ambassador to the United States which he served until 1924.^[14] As His Majesty's ambassador, Geddes investigated the treatment of British immigrants at Ellis Island, for which he wrote a report (1923).^[15] He was also heavily involved in the negotiations that led up to the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, which limited the size and number of the world's battleships. He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (G.C.M.G.) in 1922.^[16]

From 1924 to 1947, he was the Chairman of the Rio Tinto Company and Rhokana Corporation.^[17] He returned to public service during the Second World War when he served as Commissioner for Civil Defence for the South-East Region from 1939 to 1944 and for the North-West Region from 1941 to 1942.^[10] The latter year he was raised to the peerage as Baron Geddes, of Rolvenden in the County of Kent.^[18]

Personal life

On 8 September 1906, Geddes was married to Isabella Gamble Ross at St. Mary's Church in Livingston, Staten Island. Isabella was a daughter of William Adolphus Ross of Staten Island, New York.^[19] Together, they had five children:^[20]

• Ross Campbell Geddes, 2nd Baron Geddes (1907–1975), who married Enid Mary Butler, only child of Clarence Henry Butler, of Tenterden.^[20]
• Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. Alexander Campbell Geddes (1910–1972), who married Margaret Kathleen Addis (1908-1992), daughter of Sir Charles Stewart Addis. They divorced in 1964 and he married, secondly, Marie-Anne Helene Emanuela Altgräfin zu Salm-Reifferscheidt-Krautheim und Dyck (1933–2015), daughter of Franz Josef Fürst zu Salm-Reifferscheidt-Krautheim und Dyck and Cäcilie Prinzessin zu Salm-Salm, on 27 July 1964.^[20]
• Hon. Margaret Campbell Geddes (1913–1997), who married Prince Louis of Hesse and by Rhine, last surviving member of this family.^[21]
• Hon. John Reay Campbell Geddes (1915–1978), who married Diana Elizabeth Swift, a daughter of Brig. Charles Copley Swift.^[20]
• Hon. David Campbell Geddes (1917–1995), who married Gerda Bruun, daughter of Norwegian Minister of Trade Gerdt Meyer Bruun, in 1948.^[22]

Lord Geddes died in January 1954, aged 74, and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son, Ross.^[23] Lady Geddes died in January 1962.^[20]

Arms

Coat of arms of Auckland Geddes, 1st Baron Geddes

Crest A Scots pine tree growing out of a mound all Proper. Escutcheon Azure three geds naiant Or on a chief of the last as many boars' heads couped Sable armed Argent langued Gules. Supporters On a compartment semé of sea-pinks two geds Proper. Motto Capta Majora [24]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Auckland Geddes, 1st Baron Geddes.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Auckland Geddes
• The Papers of Sir Auckland Campbell Geddes held at Churchill Archives Centre
• Newspaper clippings about Auckland Geddes, 1st Baron Geddes in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

This page was last edited on 14 April 2024, at 18:20