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Auckland Geddes, 1st Baron Geddes

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Geddes
GCMG KCB PC
President of the Board of Trade
In office
26 May 1919 – 19 March 1920
MonarchGeorge V
Prime MinisterDavid Lloyd George
Preceded bySir Albert Stanley
Succeeded byRobert Horne
British Ambassador to the United States
In office
1920–1924
MonarchGeorge V
Prime MinisterDavid Lloyd George
Bonar Law
Stanley Baldwin
Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded byThe Viscount Grey of Fallodon
Succeeded bySir Esme Howard
Personal details
Born
Auckland Campbell Geddes

21 June 1879 (1879-06-21)
London, England
Died8 June 1954 (1954-06-09) (aged 74)
London, England
Political partyConservative
SpouseIsabella Ross
Children5; 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

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Geddes was born in London as 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 the First World War 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

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Boer War

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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

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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, 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

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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

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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 from the post in 1920 after being appointed British Ambassador to the United States, in which position 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.

From 1924 to 1947, he was the Chairman of the Rio Tinto Company and Rhokana Corporation.[16] 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.[17]

Personal life

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On 8 September 1906, Geddes was married to Isabella Gamble Ross (1881–1962) at St. Mary's Church in Livingston, Staten Island. Isabella was a daughter of William Adolphus Ross (1843–1912) of Staten Island, New York,[18] one of the largest soft drink manufacturers in Ireland (W A Ross & Sons Ltd, with Ross's Royal Ginger Ale, the firm's principal product)[19] and who settled in New York. Together, Geddes and his wife had five children:[20]

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

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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

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  1. ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  2. ^ Spiers, Edward M., ed. (2011). A Military History of Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 23. ISBN 9780748633357.
  3. ^ "No. 27454". The London Gazette. 15 July 1902. p. 4513.
  4. ^ "The Army in South Africa – Troops returning Home". The Times. No. 36865. London. 5 September 1902. p. 6.
  5. ^ "In Memoriam – Lord Geddes". Journal of Anatomy. 88 (Pt 3): 426–428. 1954. PMC 1244689.
  6. ^ Campbell Geddes, A. (1908). "Acromegalic-giganticism: a hypothesis". Edinburgh Medical School Thesis and Dissertation Collection.
  7. ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  8. ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  9. ^ "No. 28983". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 November 1914. p. 9666.
  10. ^ a b c Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, [page needed]
  11. ^ "No. 29578". The London Gazette. 12 May 1916. p. 4698.
  12. ^ "No. 30262". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 August 1917.
  13. ^ "No. 30442". The London Gazette. 21 December 1917. p. 13375.
  14. ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  15. ^ Times, Special to The New York (30 December 1923). "GEDDES RESIGNS AS AMBASSADOR OWING TO ILLNESS; Washington Had Been Led to Believe That He Was Improving at Home. EXPECTED EARLY RETURN Sir Auckland Has Been Virtually an Invalid Since Being Gassed on the Western Front. HOWARD MAY GET POST British Envoy to Madrid Is Likely to Be Picked as Next American Envoy. GEDDES RESIGNS AS AMBASSADOR". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  16. ^ https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/resources/1582 The Papers of Sir Auckland Campbell Geddes
  17. ^ "No. 35440". The London Gazette. 30 January 1942. p. 505.
  18. ^ "MARRIED". The New York Times. 9 September 1906. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  19. ^ "Soda, So Good: W A Ross Of Belfast". Let's Look Again. 1 July 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  20. ^ a b c d e Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999.
  21. ^ "MARGARET GEDDES ENGAGED TO MARRY; Daughter of Former British Envoy to U. S. to Be Bride of Prince Ludwig of Hesse". The New York Times. 17 July 1937. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  22. ^ "Pytt Geddes (obituary)". The Telegraph. 21 March 2006. Archived from the original on 4 December 2007. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  23. ^ "LORD GEDDES, 74, EX-ENVOY TO U.S.; Former Professor at McGill Served in Capital 1920–24 Led British Trade Board". The New York Times. 9 January 1954. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  24. ^ Burke's Peerage. 1949.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Auckland Geddes, 1st Baron Geddes.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Basingstoke
1917 – 1920 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Director of National Service
1917–1919 		Post abolished
Preceded by President of the Local Government Board
1918–1919 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Reconstruction
1919 		Office abolished
Preceded by President of the Board of Trade
1919–1920 		Succeeded by
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Ambassador to the United States
1920–1924 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Geddes
1942–1954 		Succeeded by
Ross Campbell-Geddes
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