Eric Drummond, 16th Earl of Perth

Sir Eric Drummond, 1931

Sir Eric Drummond, 1931

James Eric Drummond, 16th Earl of Perth KCMG , CB (born August 17, 1876 in North Yorkshire , † December 15, 1951 ) was a British politician and diplomat; from 1919 to 1933 he was the first general secretary of the League of Nations .

His parents were James David Drummond, 10th Viscount Strathallan (1839-1893) and Margaret Smythe. When his older half-brother died in 1937, he inherited his title of nobility as Earl of Perth and became Chief of Clan Drummond .

Drummond joined the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office after completing his training at Eton College in 1900 ; Among other things, he worked as the private secretary of the Deputy Foreign Minister and, after 1916, of the Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour . In this position he also took part in the Paris Peace Conference, which in 1919, with the founding charter, made him the first General Secretary of the League of Nations.

In 1933 he resigned and was sent to Italy as British ambassador . He held this position until the beginning of World War II .

During the Second World War, Drummond headed the foreign affairs department in the British Ministry of Information to become vice-chairman of the British Liberals in 1947 . He held this office until his death in 1951.

Drummond was married with a son who inherited the titles on his death.

literature

• James Barros : Office without power. Secretary-General Sir Eric Drummond. 1919-1933. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1979, ISBN 0-19-822551-2 .

Web links

Commons : Eric Drummond  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Sources for the company 'Monnet, Murname & Co., Shangai' (1935–1939), where JE Drummond was involved, can be viewed in the Historical Archives of the EU in Florence
• Newspaper article about Eric Drummond, 16th Earl of Perth in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

predecessor	Office	successor
William Drummond	Earl of Perth 1937-1951	John Drummond