Sir Arthur Charles Walter Drew, KCB, JP (2 September 1912 – 15 October 1993) was an English

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. He was born in Mexico, the son of Arthur Drew of

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

and Louise Schulte-Ummingen. He was educated at

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553 ...

and studied at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

."Sir Arthur Drew", ''

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'' (London), 20 October 1993, p. 21. . Drew entered the civil service in 1936 as an official in the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

. Rapid promotion during rearmament and the war preceded his appointed as private secretary to the secretary of state in 1945. From 1951 to 1954, he was seconded to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and then became director of finance at the War Office in 1955. Promoted to deputy secretary two years later, he was appointed to that grade in the Home Office in 1961. From 1963 to 1964, he was the last

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

of the War Office. With its amalgamation into the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

in 1964, he was appointed the Second Permanent Secretary there, initially with responsibility for the Army and later for administration. He retired in 1972. He was chairman of the

Museums and Galleries Commission The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) was until May 2012 a non-departmental public body and registered charity in England with a remit to promote improvement and innovation in the area of museums, libraries and archives. Its function ...

from 1978 to 1984 and was also a warden of the

Drapers' Company The Worshipful Company of Drapers is one of the 110 livery companies of the City of London. It has the formal name The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mystery of Dr ...

and the chairman of the

Ancient Monuments Board of England Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cov ...

. His wife Rachel was the daughter of Guy William Lambert, CB, a senior official in the War Office.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drew, Arthur 1912 births 1993 deaths English civil servants Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath