Thomas Henry Sanderson, 1st Baron Sanderson (11 January 1841 – 21 March 1923) was a British civil servant. He was Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 1894 and 1906.

Background and education

Thomas Henry Sanderson Vanity Fair 10 November 1898

Sanderson was born at Gunton Park, about six miles north of Aylsham,

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, the second son of Richard Sanderson, Member of Parliament for

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from 1832 to 1847, and the Honourable Charlotte Matilda Sanderson Manners-Sutton, elder daughter of Charles Manners-Sutton, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1817 to 1835. He was educated at Eton until he was forced to leave the school in 1857 due to the poor state of his family's finances, caused by the death of his father in October of that year, and his father's business in East India failing.

Career

Sanderson entered the Foreign Office as a junior clerk in 1859 and was not to leave the

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until his retirement in 1906. In December 1863 Sanderson accompanied Lord Wodehouse to Berlin and Copenhagen on his special mission during the

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crisis. Early in his career he crossed paths with Lord Stanley, later 15th Earl of Derby. Sanderson became Stanley's private secretary in July 1866 and left an impression on Stanley, who described him as "the best of the juniors" on exit from office, after

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a ...

's first government fell in the 1868 December General Election. In 1871 he went to Geneva during the arbitration between the United Kingdom and the USA on the ''Alabama'' claims. He was later private secretary to Foreign Secretary Lord Granville between 1880 and 1885, Senior Clerk at the Foreign Office between 1885 and 1889, Assistant Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 1889 and 1894 and Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 1894 and 1906. On 20 December 1905 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Sanderson, of Armthorpe in the County of York.

Personal life

Sanderson's nickname was "Lamps" due to his strong spectacles. He died unmarried at Wimpole Street,

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, on 21 March 1923, aged 82, when the barony became extinct.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanderson, Thomas Sanderson, 1st Baron 1841 births 1923 deaths People educated at Eton College British civil servants Principal Private Secretaries to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 101 Companions of the Imperial Service Order Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Peers created by Edward VII