Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ironholds (talk | contribs) at 08:30, 16 October 2008 (dod). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Sir Alan Garrett Anderson GBE DL (9 March 1877–4 May 1952) was a British civil servant and shipowner. He was the only son of James George Skelton Anderson and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first British woman to qualify as a doctor, and was educated at Eton College between 1890 and 1895 followed by a year at Trinity College, Oxford in 1896, leaving in his second year to work for the family shipping business, Anderson, Anderson & Co. In 1897 after the death of his great-uncle James Anderson his father formed the Orient Steam Navigation Company with his business partner Frederick Green. The company suffered during the government service and ship losses of World War I, and was bought by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) in 1919 under the supervision of James Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape. Mackay had a high regard for Anderson, and made him a board member of both P&O and the British-India Steam Navigation Company when he bought Anderson, Anderson & Co. Anderson was already a director of Midland Railway, and when the company was merged into London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923 he retained his seat. In 1922 he served as High Sheriff of the County of London and Deputy Lieutenant of the City of London.

During the First World War Anderson served in a multitude of government positions. Under Walter Runciman he spent time dealing with the USA in matters of blockades and claims that arose from treating enemy cargo carried by American vessels as contraband. He was then appointed vice-chairman of the royal commission for wheat supplies, and was tasked with controlling the distribution of weat among the western allies. When the USA entered the war he and Arthur Balfour travelled to Washington, D.C., performing the same task over there, and Anderson was then assigned as an Admiralty controller, dealing with both the Royal and Merchant navies. In 1917 he was appointed a Knight Commander of the British Empire and a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in reward for his services, also recieving an award from Italy. On August 7 1918 he was appointed Construction Chief of the Navy, a position he held until the end of the war.

After the war his services were very much in demand, and he chaired two government inquiries, one on the training of naval officers, the other on the pay of civil servants, and was also on the royal commission into national debt. He was elected to the board of the Bank of England in 1918 and despite claiming to know nothing about banking the Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Montagu Norman, selected him as the next deputy governor. At the end of 1924, before Anderson had been appointed, Norman took him to New York to discuss the return of the UK to the Gold Standard, the decision of which was made a few weeks before he was appointed. He retired in 1926 before the end of the normal 2-year period of service, but remained a normal board member until 1946. He was selected to sit on the board of the Suez Canal Company between 1927 and 1952 as one of its British directors, and appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the British Empire in 1934.

In 1935 he agreed to stand as a Member of Parliament for the City of London and was reelected in 1940, but didn't like the atmosphere in the House of Commons and the same year to focus on war work. He served on the cereals board and was made head of the railway executive and controller of railways in 1941, holding that position until 1945. He died on 4 May 1952, leaving his wife Muriel and two sons, one of whom was Sir Donald Forsyth Anderson.

References

1. ^ "Oxford DNB article:Anderson, Sir Alan Garrett". Retrieved 2008-10-15.
2. "BRITISH ADMIRALTY GETS A SHAKEUP: New York Times". Retrieved 2008-10-16.

• Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
• Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies
• UK MPs 1935-1945
• Conservative MPs (UK)
• 1877 births
• 1952 deaths