Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

John Cyril Edmondson, 2nd Baron Sandford,

DSC DSC may refer to: Academia * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dalton State Col ...

(22 December 1920 – 13 January 2009) was a decorated

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer,

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

clergyman, conservationist and Conservative politician. As a junior minister charged with a review of policy on

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

s, he formulated what became known as the "Sandford principle": if there is a conflict between leisure use of the National Park, and protecting its natural state, the state of the park must be preserved. Sandford was the eldest son of Albert Edmondson, 1st Baron Sandford, and his wife Edith Elizabeth (née Freeman, and sister to Ralph, Arnold and Peter). He was educated at

St Cyprian's School St Cyprian's School was an English preparatory school for boys, which operated in the early 20th century in Eastbourne, East Sussex. Like other preparatory schools, its purpose was to train pupils to do well enough in the examinations (usuall ...

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

, and the

Royal Naval College, Dartmouth Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

and later trained for Holy Orders at

Westcott House, Cambridge Westcott House is an Anglican theological college based on Jesus Lane in the centre of the university city of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.Westcott House website, Home pag Retrieved on August 27, 2006. Its main activity is training people for ...

. He served in the

in 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 ...

, notably at the landings in North Africa,

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, where he was wounded. For his actions at Normandy he was awarded the

Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries. *Distinguished Service Cross (Australia) *Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) *Distinguished Service Cross (U ...

. After the war he was wounded on in the Corfu Channel Incident in 1946. He was on the staff of the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth from 1947 to 1949, served on in 1950 and on HMS ''Cleopatra'' from 1951 to 1952, was on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief in the Far East from 1953 to 1955, and was commander of the

Home Fleet The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet. Before the First ...

Flagship HMS ''Tyne'' in 1956. The latter year Sandford retired from the Royal Navy with the rank of

. In 1958 he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

in the

and served as

Curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

of the Parish of St Nicholas in

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,240 in the 2011 census, whilst the population of the civil parish was 29,448. Har ...

from 1958 to 1963 and as Executive Chaplain to the Bishop of St Albans from 1965 to 1968. Sandford succeeded his father in the barony in 1959 and took his seat on the Conservative benches in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

. He was an Opposition Whip in the House of Lords from 1966 to 1970 and served in the Conservative administration of Edward Heath as Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the

Ministry of Housing and Local Government The Ministry of Housing and Local Government was a United Kingdom government department formed following the Second World War, covering the areas of housing and local government. It was formed, as the Ministry of Local Government and Planning, ...

in 1970, as Joint Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

from 1970 to 1973 and as Joint Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Department of Education and Science from 1973 to 1974. As chair of the National Parks Policy Review Committee from 1971 to 1974 he gave name to the Sandford Principle. He was the Chairman of the

Institution of Environmental Sciences The Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES) is a professional body (professional association) in the United Kingdom. The organisation is a registered charity with the object of "to advance environmental protection and improvement by promoting ...

, from 1977 to 1980, and was awarded Honorary Fellowship in 1981. Sandford has later served as President of the Council for Environmental Education from 1975 to 1984, as Chairman of the Community Task Force from 1977 to 1982 and of the Conference in South-East regional Planning from 1981 to 1988, as President of the Association of District Councils from 1980 to 1986 and as a

Church Commissioner The Church Commissioners is a body which administers the property assets of the Church of England. It was established in 1948 and combined the assets of Queen Anne's Bounty, a fund dating from 1704 for the relief of poor clergy, and of the Eccle ...

from 1981 to 1988. He remained a member of the House of Lords until the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic right of

hereditary peer The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of September 2022, there are 807 hereditary peers: 29 dukes (including five royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 190 earls, 111 viscounts, and 443 barons (disregarding subsid ...

s sit in the upper chamber of Parliament. Sandford married Catharine Mary, daughter of Reverend Oswald Andrew Hunt, in 1947. They had two sons and two daughters. His elder son,

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, succeeded him.

Arms

References

*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990. * *''Who's Who 2007: An Annual Biographical Dictionary''. London: A & C Black, 2007.
Commander the Rev Lord Sandford—Commander the Reverend 2nd Lord Sandford , who has died aged 88, had an impressive apprenticeship as a decorated naval officer and a Hertfordshire curate before becoming a Conservative whip and junior minister in the House of Lords.

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

, 9 February 2009.
Lord Sandford: seaman, clergyman, politician and conservationist

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

, 23 January 2009. Als
Lives remembered: Lord Sandford and Reg Gutteridge
29 January 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sandford, John Edmondson, 2nd Baron 1920 births 2009 deaths

202 Year 202 (Roman numerals, CCII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Antoninus (or, less frequently, year 955 '' ...

Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers People educated at St Cyprian's School Royal Navy officers of World War II Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) 20th-century English Anglican priests Ordained peers English conservationists English environmentalists Alumni of Westcott House, Cambridge People educated at Eton College Sandford