Edwin Duncan Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys CHThe Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V in June 1917, as a reward for outstanding achievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry, or religion....
PCHer Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. Its members are largely senior politicians, who were or are members of either the House of Commons or House of Lords of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.The Privy Council, the...
(24 January 1908 – 26 November 1987) was a British
politicianA politician or political leader is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making. This includes people who hold decision-making positions in government, and people who seek those positions, whether by means of election, coup d'état, appointment, electoral fraud, conquest,...
and a minister in successive
ConservativeThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
governments in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the son-in-law of
Sir Winston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer...
.
Early life
Sandys was the son of
George John SandysGeorge John Sandys was a British diplomat and Conservative politician.Sandys was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge and served in the South African War and in the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War, during which he was wounded. He was Member of Parliament for Wells from 1910...
, a Conservative member of parliament (1910 - 1918) and was educated at
Eton CollegeEton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent boarding school for boys aged approx. 13 to 19. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and
Magdalen College, OxfordMagdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million....
. He entered the diplomatic service in 1930, serving at the Foreign Office in London as well as at the embassy in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
He became
Conservative PartyThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
MP for
NorwoodNorwood was a constituency in South London which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1997 general election....
in
South LondonSouth London is the southern part of London, England. The area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes.-Boundary Commission:...
in 1935. In the same year, he married
Diana ChurchillDiana Churchill was the eldest daughter of Sir Winston Churchill and Clementine Churchill .On 12 December 1932, she married the baronet Sir John Milner Bailey, but the marriage was unsuccessful and they divorced in 1935. On 16 September 1935, she married the Conservative politician, Duncan Sandys...
, daughter of the future prime minister (after being opposed at Norwood by a candidate put up by
Randolph ChurchillMajor Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer Churchill, MBE was the son of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament for Preston from 1940 to 1945....
).
In May 1935 he was in effect saying that Germany should have a predominant place in central Europe, so as to avoid clashing with Britain as an Imperial Power (
Hansard, 2 May 1935, cols.595-598).
The Duncan Sandys case
In 1938 Sandys asked questions in the
House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
on matters of
national securityNational security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the nation-state through the use of economic, military and political power and the exercise of diplomacy.Measures taken to ensure national security include:...
. He was subsequently approached by two unidentified men, presumably representing the
secret serviceBecause of both the secrecy of secret services and the controversial nature of the issues involved, there is some difficulty in separating the definitions of secret service, secret police, intelligence agency etc....
s, and threatened with prosecution under the Official Secrets Act. Sandys reported the matter to the Committee of Privileges who held that the disclosures of Parliament were not subject to the legislation though an MP could be disciplined by the House.
Wartime
In 1937 Sandys was commissioned into the 51st (London) Anti-Aircraft Brigade,
Royal ArtilleryThe Royal Artillery is the common name for the Royal Regiment of Artillery, an arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
, Territorial Army. During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he fought with the British Expeditionary Force in
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
and was wounded in action in 1941, giving him a permanent limp. From this time he had a desk job as the Finance Member of the Army Council. His father-in-law gave him his first ministerial post during the wartime Coalition Government. While a Minister he was also Chairman of a War Cabinet Committee for defence against German flying bombs and rockets. However, he lost his seat in the
1945 general electionThe United Kingdom General Election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks...
. He resigned his commission as a Lieutenant-Colonel in 1946.
Post-war
Sandys was responsible for establishing the
European MovementThe European Movement international is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils desiring to work towards the construction of a federal Europe.-History:...
in Britain in 1947 and served as a member of the European Consultative Assembly in 1950 to 1951. He was elected to Parliament once again in 1950 for
StreathamStreatham is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
and, when the Conservatives regained power, he was appointed as
Minister of SupplyThe Minister of Supply was the minister in the British Government responsible for the Ministry of Supply, which existed to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to the national armed forces...
in 1951. For most of his time as Minister of Supply, his Private Secretary was
Jack CharlesJack Charles was a British civil servant and Director of Establishments for the Greater London Council.He was educated at Ilford County High School, Essex....
. As Minister of Housing from 1954, he introduced the
Clean Air ActA Clean Air Act is one of a number of pieces of legislation relating to the reduction of smog and air pollution in general. The use by governments to enforce clean air standards has contributed to an improvement in human health and longer life spans...
and in 1955 introduced
green beltsIn United Kingdom town planning, the green belt is a policy for controlling urban growth. The idea is for a ring of countryside where urbanisation will be resisted for the foreseeable future, maintaining an area where agriculture, forestry and outdoor leisure can be expected to prevail...
. He was appointed
Minister of DefenceThe post of Minister of Defence was responsible for co-ordination of defence and security from its creation in 1940 until its abolition in 1964. The post was a Cabinet level post and generally ranked above the three service ministers, some of whom, however, continued to also serve in...
in 1957 and quickly produced the
1957 Defence White PaperThe 1957 White Paper on Defence was a British white paper setting forth the future as seen of the British military. It had profound effects on all aspects of the defence industry but probably the most affected was the British aircraft industry...
that proposed a radical shift in the
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
by ending the use of fighter aircraft in favour of
missileA missile is a self-propelled projectile used as a weapon. Missiles are typically propelled by rockets or jet engines. Missiles generally have one or more explosive warheads, although other weapon types may also be used...
technology. Though later Ministers reversed the policy, the lost orders and cuts in research were responsible for several aircraft manufacturers going out of business. As Minister of Defence he saw the rationalization (ie merger) of much of the British military aircraft and engine industry.
After becoming Minister of Aviation he caused the failure of
Fairey AviationThe Fairey Aviation Company Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer of the first half of the 20th century based in Hayes in Greater London and Heaton Chapel and RAF Ringway in Greater Manchester...
's concept breaking Rotodyne.
He divorced his first wife (
Diana ChurchillDiana Churchill was the eldest daughter of Sir Winston Churchill and Clementine Churchill .On 12 December 1932, she married the baronet Sir John Milner Bailey, but the marriage was unsuccessful and they divorced in 1935. On 16 September 1935, she married the Conservative politician, Duncan Sandys...
) in 1960 and married Marie-Claire (
née Schmitt, previously married to Viscount Hudson) in 1962, the marriage lasting until his death. It has long been speculated that he may have been the 'headless man' whose identity was concealed during the (then considered) scandalous divorce trial of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll in 1963.
Sandys continued as a minister at the Commonwealth Relations Office, later combining it with the Colonies Office, until the Conservative government fell from power in 1964. In this role he was responsible for granting several colonies their independence.
He remained in the Shadow Cabinet until 1966 when he was sacked by
Edward HeathSir Edward Richard George Heath, KG, MBE , often known as Ted Heath, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975...
. He had strongly supported
Ian SmithIan Douglas Smith GCLM ID served as the Prime Minister of the British self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia from 13 April 1964 to 11 November 1965 and as the first Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 11 November 1965 to 1 June 1979 during white minority rule. Smith unilaterally declared...
in the dispute over
RhodesiaWhen the former colony of Northern Rhodesia changed its name to Zambia on independence in 1964, the colony of Southern Rhodesia changed its name to just plain 'Rhodesia'. The change had not yet been officialy ratified when Rhodesia declared itself independent on 11 November 1965...
's Unilateral Declaration of Independence. He was not offered a post when the Conservatives won the 1970 general election, but instead served as Leader of the United Kingdom delegation to the
Council of EuropeThe Council of Europe is the oldest international organisation working towards European integration, having been founded in 1949. It has a particular emphasis on legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
and
Western European UnionThe Western European Union is a largely dormant intergovernmental defence and security organisation, established on the basis of the Treaty of Brussels of 1948, with the accession of West Germany and Italy in 1954. The WEU headquarters are in Brussels...
until 1972 when he announced his retirement. The next year he was made a Companion of Honour.
In 1974 he retired from Parliament and was awarded a life peerage. He followed the example of
George BrownGeorge Alfred Brown, later George Alfred George-Brown, Baron George-Brown, PC was a British politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1960 to 1970, and was a senior Cabinet minister in the Labour government of the 1960s...
and incorporated his first name in the title
Baron Duncan-Sandys, of the
City of WestminsterThe City of Westminster is a borough of London with city status. It is located west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, and forms part of Inner London and the bulk of London's central area....
. He was an active early member of the
Conservative Monday ClubThe Conservative Monday Club is a British pressure-group "on the right-wing of the Conservative Party".-Overview:...
.
Children
Children of Diana Churchill and Rt. Hon. Duncan Sandys:
- Honourable Julian Sandys (19 September 1936 – 15 August 1997)
- Honourable Edwina Sandys
The Honourable Edwina Sandys was born in 1938. She was the second of Duncan and Diana Sandys' three children and a granddaughter of the statesman Sir Winston Churchill. She has been married twice. Her first husband Piers Dixon formerly represented Truro as the Conservative MP. They had two sons...
(b. 22 December 1938)
- Honourable Celia Sandys (b. 18 May 1943)
He has another child, Laura, who is the Conservative Party candidate for Thanet South from his second wife Marie Claire Schmitt.
Interests
Among his other interests were historic architecture. He formed the Civic Trust in 1956 and was its President; the Royal Institution of British Architects made him an honorary Fellow in 1968, and the Royal Town Planning Institute made him an honorary member. He was also a trustee of the World Security Trust.
His business activities included a Directorship of the
Ashanti Goldfields CorporationThis is the article on the mining company. For the football club of the same name see Ashanti Gold SC.The Ashanti Goldfields Corporation is a gold mining company based in Ghana that was founded by Edwin Cade. The Ashanti mine, located at Obuasi, 56 km south of Kumasi, has been producing since 1897...
, which was later part of Lonrho of which he became Chairman. He was therefore caught up in the scandal in which Lonrho was revealed to have bribed several African countries and broken international sanctions against
RhodesiaWhen the former colony of Northern Rhodesia changed its name to Zambia on independence in 1964, the colony of Southern Rhodesia changed its name to just plain 'Rhodesia'. The change had not yet been officialy ratified when Rhodesia declared itself independent on 11 November 1965...
.
External links
- men' in sex scandal finally named - The Guardian
The Guardian is a British daily newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Founded in 1821, it is unique among major British newspapers in being owned by a foundation .The Guardian Weekly, which circulates worldwide, provides a compact digest of four newspapers...
, Thursday August 10, 2000.
- Obituary, New York Times Nov 7 1987
Career Summary
- Coalition Government
- 20 July 1941 - 7 February 1943 Financial Secretary to the War Office
- 7 February 1943 - 21 November 1944 Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Supply
- 21 November 1944 - 25 May 1945 Minister of Works
- Caretaker Government
- 25 May 1945 - 26 July 1945 Minister of Works
- Conservative Government
- 31 October 1951 - 18 October 1954 Minister of Supply
- 18 October 1954 - 13 January 1957 Minister of Housing and Local Government
- 13 January 1957 - 14 October 1959 Minister of Defence
- 14 October 1959 - 27 July 1960 Minister of Aviation
- 27 July 1960 - 13 July 1962 Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations
- 13 July 1962 - 16 October 1964 Secretary of State for the Colonies and Commonwealth Relations