Sir Frederick William Leith-Ross,

GCMG The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

, KCB (4 February 1887 – 22 August 1968) was a Scottish

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

who was chief adviser to the

UK government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

from 1932 to 1945.

Biography

Leith-Ross was born in

Saint Pierre, Mauritius St. Pierre (St Peter) is a village in the district of Moka in Mauritius.It is considered to be found in the heart of Mauritius.The climatic conditions is cold and ideal especially during summer with cold breeze. The village has significantly chan ...

, the son of Frederick William Arbuthnot Leith-Ross, a banker, and his Dutch wife, Sina van Houten, the daughter of politician

Samuel van Houten Samuel van Houten (17 February 1837 – 14 October 1930) was a Dutch liberal politician and philosopher, who served as Minister of the Interior from 1894 to 1897. Early life Van Houten was born in Groningen into a wealthy Mennonite family. Hi ...

. He grew up with his grandfather John Leith Ross, 5th Laird of

Arnage Castle Arnage Castle is a country house, incorporating a Z-plan tower house, located around north of Ellon, in Aberdeenshire, north-east Scotland. The tower house dates from the late 16th century, and was extended in subsequent centuries. History The ...

at the family estate in Ellon, Scotland. He was the brother of the artist

Harry Leith-Ross Harry "Tony" Leith-Ross (27 January 1886 – 15 March 1973) was a British-American landscape painter and teacher. He taught at the art colonies in Woodstock, New York and Rockport, Maine, and later was part of the art colony in New Hope, Pennsy ...

(1886–1973). After graduating with a double first from

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, he joined the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

in 1909. Leith-Ross was appointed as a

Private Secretary A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family. The role exists in t ...

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...

, the prime minister, in 1911. Between 1932 and 1945 he was chief economic advisor to the UK government: he is known for advancing the

economic theory Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

of "

Treasury View In macroeconomics, particularly in the history of economic thought, the Treasury view is the assertion that fiscal policy has ''no'' effect on the total amount of economic activity and unemployment, even during times of economic recession. This vie ...

", popular in the 1930s. Leith-Ross was active in negotiations with Germany prior to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

but is best remembered for the "Leith-Ross mission" to China in 1935, when he was the UK's chief representative in a mission to persuade China to reform its currency. He was also chairman of a bank in China and chairman of P&O. During the

, Leith-Ross helped to lay the foundation for international humanitarian relief efforts in the postwar period. Following a speech of Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

to the

British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...

on 20 August 1940 that rhetorically raised the prospect of Britain bringing the German and Austrian peoples "food, freedom, and peace" upon the defeat of the Nazi regime in Europe, Leith-Ross was appointed to head an ad hoc governmental committee to address the question of how surpluses could be raised to deliver on such a pledge. In September 1941, his committee was reconstituted as the Inter-Allied Committee on Post-War Requirements, in which form it collaborated with the European governments in exile in London, on estimating the needs for food, raw materials, and other necessities in the first six-month period after liberation. Leith-Ross's committee laid the groundwork for what eventually became the

United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was an international relief agency, largely dominated by the United States but representing 44 nations. Founded in November 1943, it was dissolved in September 1948. it became part o ...

(UNRRA), founded in November 1943. As deputy under the UNRRA's first director-general, the American

Herbert Lehman Herbert Henry Lehman (March 28, 1878 – December 5, 1963) was an American Democratic Party politician from New York. He served from 1933 until 1942 as the 45th governor of New York and represented New York State in the U.S. Senate from 1949 ...

, Leith-Ross contributed to the difficult work of organizing and staffing the new international agency, which, in the end, received the mandate not of feeding German civilians but, rather, of fulfilling basic needs of the millions of people displaced from their homelands as a consequence of the war, who needed assistance to be repatriated or to otherwise re-establish their lives in the postwar period. The term

displaced person Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...

s, which came into parlance at that time, and shaped the understanding of the postwar landscape, may have even originated in Leith-Ross's committee and the report it produced.Shephard, 38–39, 51–52. In 1912 Leith-Ross married Prudence Staples. Their children include the author Prudence Leith-Ross. His 1968 autobiography is entitled ''Money Talks: Fifty years of international finance''.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leith-Ross, Frederick 1887 births 1968 deaths Scottish economists British people of Dutch descent Chief Economic Advisers to HM Treasury Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath 20th-century British civil servants British people in British Mauritius Governors of the Central Bank of Egypt