Eric Geddes

Eric Campbell Geddes (1917)

Sir Eric Campbell Geddes GCB GBE PC (born September 26, 1875 - June 22, 1937 ) was an economic manager and politician of the Conservative Party , who was among other things from 1917 to 1922 a member of the House of Commons and between 1917 and 1919 as First Lord of the Admiralty in the war cabinet . Subsequently, he was Minister without Portfolio in 1919 and finally Minister of Transport from 1919 to 1921.

Life

Eric Campbell Geddes circa 1920. Portrait study by James Guthrie for Statesmen of World War I .

Family origins, engineer and First World War

Geddes was the second of seven children and the eldest son of bridge engineer Acland Campbell Geddes and his wife Christina Helen McLeod Anderson. His older sister was the doctor Alexandra Mary Chalmers Geddes , who, during the First World War in the Military Women's Association Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps committed and later at Edinburgh Hospital and Dispensary for Women and Children , today's Bruntsfield Hospital worked. One of his younger sisters, Margaret Campbell Geddes, was a judge in Edinburgh . His younger brother Auckland Campbell Geddes was, among other things, also a member of the lower house, trade minister and ambassador to the USA between 1920 and 1924 . His youngest brother Irvine Campbell Geddes was the captain of the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) team in 1908 and later also an economic manager.

Geddes himself completed his education at the Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh and at the Oxford Military College . After completing his studies, he worked as an engineer in railway construction in America, India and England. He was then an officer in the engineering and railway staff corps of the Royal Engineers of the Territorial Forces and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1913 . Subsequently, he was deputy general director of the railway company NER ( North Eastern Railway ) , before he became deputy general director of the ammunition supply office in 1915. In 1916 he was given the honorary rank of major general and at the same time he was beaten to a Knight Bachelor degree , so that from then on he carried the suffix "Sir". After that, he served from 1916 to 1917 at the same time as general manager for the military railways in the War Department ( War Office ) as well as Director General for troop transport of the British Army in France . In addition, from 1916 to 1917 he was Inspector General for Transport.

In 1917 Geddes was appointed Navy Controller and member of the Admiralty and during this time held the honorary and temporary rank of Vice Admiral , although he was a civilian and not a member of the Royal Navy . He was also a member of the Privy Council (PC) and knighted grand cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in 1917 . He was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Law (Hon. LL.D.) from the University of Sheffield .

Minister, MP and economic manager

On July 17, 1917 Geddes was appointed by Prime Minister David Lloyd George in his national liberal coalition government to succeed Edward Carson as First Lord of the Admiralty . He held the post of First Lord of the Admiralty until January 10, 1919 and was then replaced by the previous Colonial Minister Walter Long .

On July 25, 1917 Geddes was also elected to the Conservative Party as a member of the House of Commons and represented in this after his re-election in the general election on December 14, 1918 to February 23, 1922 the constituency of Cambridge . On January 10, 1919, he succeeded Austen Chamberlain as Minister without Portfolio, before he finally took over the newly created office of Minister of Transport (Minister of Transport) in the Lloyd George cabinet on May 19, 1919 . He held this ministerial office until his replacement by William Peel, 2nd Viscount Peel . During the First World War he was a member of the David Lloyd Georges War Cabinet.

For his services in the First World War, Geddes was also honored with the Croix de guerre and the Leopold Order of Belgium and was also appointed Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor . In addition, he was also beaten to the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB). After retiring from politics, he served from 1922 to 1924 as CEO of Dunlop Rubber , before CEO in 1924 founded airline Imperial Airways was.

Geddes married Ada Gwendolen Stokes, daughter of the clergyman Arthur Stokes, on November 2, 1900 in India. This marriage resulted in three sons, including his youngest son, Anthony Reay Mackay Geddes , who was also an economic manager.

Web links

Commons : Eric Campbell Geddes  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Eric Geddes at Hansard (English)
• Sir Eric Campbell Geddes on thepeerage.com , accessed August 19, 2015.
• Newspaper article about Eric Geddes in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

predecessor	Office	successor
Edward Carson	First Lord of the Admiralty 1917–1919	Walter Long