Roger Mellor Makins, 1st Baron Sherfield, (3 February 1904 – 9 November 1996), was a British diplomat who served as British Ambassador to the United States from 1953 to 1956.

Background and early life

Makins was the son of Brigadier-General Sir

Ernest Makins Brigadier-General Sir Ernest Makins, (14 October 1869 – 18 May 1959) was a British military officer, statesman and Conservative Party politician. Military career Making was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 1st (Royal) Dragoons on 23 ...

(1869–1959) and Florence Mellor. He was educated at

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

and

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 uniq ...

, and was called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1927.

Early diplomatic career

However, he never practised and instead joined the Diplomatic Service in 1928. Makins was later appointed to be Minister Plenipotentiary at the

British Embassy in Washington The British Embassy, Washington D.C. (alternatively in the US, Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington, D.C.) is the British sovereign's diplomatic mission to the United States of America, representing the interests of the United Kingdom and ...

in 1945, and served until 1947. He was Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

from 1947 to 1948 and as Deputy Under-Secretary of State from 1948 to 1952.

Ambassador to the United States

Roger Makins, Georgi Zarubin, JJ Wadsworth 1956

In 1953 he was appointed to be the

Ambassador to the United States The following table lists ambassadors to the United States, sorted by the representative country or organization. See also *Ambassadors of the United States Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated by the president to serve ...

, a post he held until 1956. On the eve of the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

, he was present at the crucial meeting on 25 September 1956 where

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as " Supermac", ...

was apparently persuaded that US President Dwight D. Eisenhower had offered the British Government tacit support; Makins, on the other hand, concluded correctly that Eisenhower would not support the intervention.

Later career in the civil service

After his return from

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

he served as Joint Permanent Secretary to The Treasury from 1956 to 1960 and as Chairman of the

United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy ...

from 1960 to 1964.

Chancellorship

Makins was appointed to the post of

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

in 1969, and retained this position until 1992.

Marriage

On 30 April 1934, in an Episcopal ceremony in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the populatio ...

, he married an American, Alice Brooks Davis (d.1985), the daughter of

Dwight F. Davis Dwight Filley Davis Sr. (July 5, 1879 – November 28, 1945) was an American tennis player and politician. He is best remembered as the founder of the Davis Cup international tennis competition. He was the Assistant Secretary of War from 1923 to ...

, founder of the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organi ...

and former US

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

Honours

Makins was appointed to the

Order of St Michael and St George 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 ...

as a Companion (CMG) in the

1944 New Year Honours The 1944 New Year Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1944 for the Britis ...

and was promoted in the same Order as a Knight Commander (KCMG) in the

1949 Birthday Honours The 1949 King's Birthday Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth Realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made "on the occasion o ...

. He was appointed to the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) a ...

as a Knight Commander (KCB) in the

1953 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1953 for the United Kingdom were announced on 30 December 1952, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1953. This was the first New Year Honours since the accession of Queen Elizabeth II. The ''Honours list'' i ...

. He was promoted in the

as a Knight Grand Cross (GCMG) in the

1955 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1955 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1955 to celebra ...

and was promoted within the

as a Knight Grand Cross (GCB) in the

1960 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1960 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lond ...

. In the

1964 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1964 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate ...

, Makins was raised to the peerage as Baron Sherfield, ''of Sherfield-on-Loddon in the County of Southampton''. He was elected to be a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

(FRS) under Statute 12 (for those "who have rendered conspicuous service to the cause of science, or are such that election would be of signal benefit to the Society") in 1986.

Arms

The Makins Collection

Makins was a notable collector of Victorian art. The Makins Collection contained important works by

John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest ...

References

External links

Interview about the Korean War
for the

WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), branded on-air as GBH or GBH 2 since 2020, is the primary PBS member television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship property of the WGBH Educational Foundation, which also owns Boston's se ...

series,

War and Peace in the Nuclear Age War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

Artworks in the Makins Collection
at the Bridgeman Art Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherfield, Roger Mellor Makins, 1st Baron 1904 births 1996 deaths Members of HM Diplomatic Service Chancellors of the University of Reading Deputy Lieutenants of Hampshire Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Makins, Roger Mellor Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford People educated at West Downs School Diplomatic peers People educated at Winchester College Makins, Roger Makins, Roger Hereditary barons created by Elizabeth II People from Sherfield on Loddon 20th-century British diplomats