Sir Lewis Amherst Selby-Bigge, 1st Baronet (3 April 1860 – 24 May 1951) was a British

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 ...

, barrister, and scholar who was

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 ...

at the

Board of Education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

between 1911–1925.

Early life and education

Selby-Bigge was born at Oakwood House in Beckenham, Kent, the second son of Charles Selby Bigge , of

Longhorsley Longhorsley is a village in Northumberland, England about northwest of Morpeth, Northumberland, Morpeth, and about south of Alnwick. The A697 road passes through the village linking it with Morpeth, Wooler and Coldstream in Scotland. There are ...

, Northumberland, and Katharina Ogle. He was educated at Winchester College, followed by

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, where he earned a B.A. in 1883 with first-class honours in '' Literae humaniores''. He was elected a Fellow of University College, Oxford in 1883 and was a tutor in philosophy for several years. He published multiple works on the doctrines of British moralists and edited their works, including David Hume's ''

A Treatise of Human Nature '' A Treatise of Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects'' (1739–40) is a book by Scottish philosopher David Hume, considered by many to be Hume's most important work and one of the ...

'' and '' An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding'', with full index. He earned an M.A. from University College in 1886.

Career

Selby-Bigge was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1891. Three years later, he began his career in the civil service as Assistant Charity Commissioner (1894–1902), before joining the

, serving successively as Assistant Secretary (1903–07), Principal Assistant Secretary (1907–11) and Permanent Secretary (1911–25). Reading law proved to be greatly beneficial in his future work researching legislation for the Board, such as the

Education Act 1902 The Education Act 1902 ( 2 Edw. 7 c. 42), also known as the Balfour Act, was a highly controversial Act of Parliament that set the pattern of elementary education in England and Wales for four decades. It was brought to Parliament by a Conservat ...

and the Education Act 1918. According to his obituary, He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1905 and promoted to Knight Companion in the same order (KCB) in the

1913 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1913 were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by members of the British Empire. They were announced on 3 January 1913. Order of the Bath Knight Grand Cross (GCB) ;Mil ...

. In the

1919 New Year Honours The 1919 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Jan ...

, Sir Amherst was created a baronet, of

King's Sutton King's Sutton is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, Northamptonshire, England in the valley of the River Cherwell. The village is about south-east of Banbury, Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlets of Astrop contiguous ...

, in the

Baronetage of the United Kingdom Baronets are a rank in the British aristocracy. The current Baronetage of the United Kingdom has replaced the earlier but existing Baronetages of England, Nova Scotia, Ireland, and Great Britain. Baronetage of England (1611–1705) James I of E ...

, effective 14 February 1919. The title became extinct after the death of his only son, John, an artist, in 1973. In the 1929 general election, he unsuccessfully stood for the Combined English Universities constituency as Unionist Party candidate.

Personal life

On 15 September 1886, Selby-Bigge married Edith Lindsay Davison, , daughter of late Right Hon. John Robert Davison, . They had one son and two daughters: *Sir John Amherst Selby-Bigge, 2nd Baronet, (24 June 1892 – 3 October 1973) *Evelyn Mary Selby-Bigge (16 October 1887), married Capt. Henry Cecil Pember, son of Henry George Pember *Edith Katharine Selby-Bigge (31 March 1889), married Capt. Geoffrey Francis Bowes-Lyon, grandson of 13th Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne and first cousin of

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the l ...

, was the mother of: **Sir James Bowes-Lyon (1917–1977), 2nd cousin of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

Sir Amherst died in

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

, Sussex in 1951.

Bibliography

* * * * *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Selby-Bigge, Amherst 1860 births 1951 deaths People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Alumni of University College, Oxford Fellows of University College, Oxford English barristers Members of the Inner Temple English civil servants People from Beckenham Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath Permanent Secretaries of the Board of Education Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom