Alan Anderson (British public servant)

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Sir
Alan Anderson
Andrew Duncan
Personal details
Born
Alan Garrett Anderson

9 March 1877
Died4 May 1952(1952-05-04) (aged 75)
SpouseMuriel Duncan
Children4
Parent(s)Elizabeth Garrett Anderson
James Anderson
RelativesLouisa Garrett Anderson (sister)
EducationEton (1890 & 1895)
Trinity College, Oxford (1896)
OccupationCivil servant, shipowner

Sir Alan Garrett Anderson

DL
(9 March 1877 – 4 May 1952) was a British civil servant, politician and shipowner.

Early life and career

Anderson was born in 1877 to James George Skelton Anderson and

shipping magnate who merged the family shipping business, Anderson, Anderson & Co., with Frederick Green & Co. on 12 February 1878 to create the Orient Steam Navigation Company.[1][2] Anderson's mother was the first British woman in England to qualify as a doctor.[3] He was one of three children born to the couple.[4] One of his sisters, Louisa Garrett Anderson, followed in her mother's footsteps and became a doctor herself, serving during World War I as the head of a military hospital,[5] while Anderson joined his father in the family's shipping enterprise in 1897.[6] Prior to joining the company, Anderson was educated at Eton College (1890 and 1895) and Trinity College, Oxford (1896). Once established in the shipping industry, Anderson expanded into the related field of rail transport, becoming director of Midland Railway in 1911, a seat he maintained through the merger of that railway in 1923 into London, Midland and Scottish Railway
.

First World War

Anderson utilised his business experiences internationally in service of the government during the

Royal Commission responsible for regulating the distribution of wheat supplies, he dealt generally with Great Britain's western allies. He dealt specifically with the United States first in processing enemy cargo aboard US vessels under Walter Runciman and, after the US entered the war, in marketing wheat in the United States as well as Canada along with Arthur Balfour.[6][7]

In the summer of 1917, Anderson was appointed to replace

Joseph Davies specifying his irritation with Anderson, while Anderson, in response to one notable shortage of shipbuilders in November 1917, chided the military for "a complete lack of sense of proportion", suggesting that recruitment would be more successfully accomplished by appealing to wives and union officials in towns known for shipbuilding than seeking the Home Office.[13] Anderson resigned from the position in 1918.[14]

In spite of these challenges, Anderson was widely honoured. In 1917, he was appointed a

Légion d'honneur,[15] and an Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy[16]
in reward for his wartime services.

Post-war career

After the war, Anderson continued to broaden his career. He became known as a powerful figure in the world of finance.

Suez Canal Company.[6]

His shipping concerns, too, broadened. From its formation in 1878, the Orient Steam Navigation Company had been operated under the co-management of Anderson, Anderson & Co. and Frederick Green & Co, but in 1919 a

British-India Steam Navigation Company by James Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape.[6]

In addition, Anderson continued public service. According to his Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry, "he chaired two government inquiries, one on the training of naval officers, the other on the pay of civil servants, and was a member of the royal commission into national debt."[6] He was involved with the hospital named in honour of his mother, being shown as one of the owners of the freehold in May 1923,[23] and remained active in the London School of Medicine for Women and the Royal Free Hospital which his mother had helped found.[6][24]

Anderson was granted an honorary commission as a

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 1934 Birthday Honours.[26]

Member of Parliament and Second World War

In 1935, Anderson ran for public office as a

Territorial Army unit of the Gloucestershire Regiment for a period up to 27 September 1949, retaining the honorary rank of colonel afterwards.[32]

Personal life

On 9 June 1903, Anderson wed Muriel Ivy Duncan of Surrey.[33] They had four children, including Sir Donald Forsyth Anderson and Sir Colin Skelton Anderson who followed their father into the shipping industry.[6] He died on 4 May 1952.

Notes

  1. ISBN 978-0-19-822322-1
    . The Orient Steam Navigation Company Ltd. was formed on 12 February 1878 by Anderson, Anderson & Co. and Frederick Green & Co. of Blackwall.
  2. ISBN 0-935786-00-7
    .
  3. ISBN 1-85285-032-9
    . The first English woman to qualify in this country was Elizabeth Garrett, known after her marriage as Elizabeth Garrett Anderson." "The first English woman to qualify as a doctor was Elizabeth Blackwell.
  4. ^ "Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836–1917)". BBC History. BBC. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
  5. ^ The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge. Vol. 12. Encyclopedia Americana Corp. 1919. p. 297.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harcourt.
  7. ^ "No. 29783". The London Gazette. 13 October 1916. pp. 9859–9860.
  8. ^ Turner, 36.
  9. ^ "British Admiralty gets shakeup". The New York Times. 8 August 1917. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
  10. ^ "No. 30278". The London Gazette. 11 September 1917. p. 9369.
    "No. 30369". The London Gazette. 6 November 1917. p. 11469.
    "No. 30472". The London Gazette. 11 January 1918. p. 731.
  11. ^ Turner, 35.
  12. ^ Turner, 35–37.
  13. ^ Turner, 37–38.
  14. ^ Chisholm, Hugh (1922). "Shipping". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 32. p. 454. In June 1918, as responsibility for merchant shipbuilding now rested with the Department of the Controller-General, Sir Alan Anderson resigned from the position of Navy Controller.
  15. ^ "No. 32602". The London Gazette. 7 February 1922. p. 1079.
  16. ^ "No. 30727". The London Gazette. 4 June 1918. p. 6583.
  17. ^
    ISBN 0-87584-608-4
    .
  18. ^ "No. 30579". The London Gazette. 15 March 1918. p. 3353.
  19. ^ a b Moggridge, 277.
  20. ^ Moggridge, 58–60.
  21. ^ "Business & Finance: International C. of C." Time. 11 July 1927. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
  22. ISBN 0-7201-1591-4. The Orient Steam Navigation Company was established in 1878 and jointly managed by the London shipowning firms of Anderson, Anderson and Company and F. Green and Company until 1919, when the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company acquired a controlling interest{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  23. ^ "No. 32823". The London Gazette. 15 May 1923. p. 3468.
  24. ISBN 0-415-92039-6
    .
  25. ^ "No. 33621". The London Gazette. 1 July 1930. p. 4110.
  26. ^ "No. 34056". The London Gazette. 4 June 1934. p. 3564.
  27. ISBN 0-7146-4569-9
    .
  28. ^ "No. 34175". The London Gazette. 28 June 1935. p. 4160.
  29. ^ "No. 34223". The London Gazette. 26 November 1935. p. 7497.
  30. ISBN 0-527-35760-X
    . When, on the occasion of the Munich crisis, a Cereals Control Board was hastily designated, its chairman was no less a person than Sir Alan Anderson, GBE.
  31. ^ Savage, Christopher Ivor (1957). Inland Transport. H.M. Stationery Office. For on 7th August, 1941, it was announced that Sir Alan Anderson, G.B.E., was to be appointed both Controller of Railways and chairman of the Railway Executive.
  32. ^ "No. 38820". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 January 1950. p. 408.
  33. ^ Howard, Joseph Jackson (1905). Visitation of England and Wales. Vol. 13. p. 86..

Sources

External links
Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Eric Geddes
Controller of the Navy

1917–1918 		Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by
High Sheriff of the County of London

1922–1923 		Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Sir Vansittart Bowater, Bt.
 Member of Parliament for
Sir Thomas Vansittart Bowater, Bt. 1935–1938
Sir George Broadbridge, Bt
1938–1945 		Succeeded by
Andrew Duncan
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