Timothy Garden, Baron Garden (23 April 1944 – 9 August 2007) was a senior commander in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

(RAF) who later became a university professor and a Liberal Democrat politician. Garden gained degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge universities. He was a pilot in the RAF for 32 years, retiring as an air marshal in 1996. He then moved to academia and was Director of

Chatham House The Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, is a British think tank based in London, England. Its stated mission is "to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous, and just world". It ...

before moving to university defence research. He became an adviser to the Liberal Democrats and was their defence spokesman in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. He was married to Susan Garden, who was made a life peer as Baroness Garden of Frognal in September 2007.

RAF career

Born in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

and educated at

King's School, Worcester The King's School, Worcester is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private co-educational day school refounded by Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII in 1541. It occupies a site adjacent to Worcester Cathedral on the banks of the River Sev ...

, Garden joined the

as a university cadet while at

St Catherine's College, Oxford St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. In 1974, it was also one of the first men's colleges to admit women. It has 528 un ...

reading Physics.Obituary: Air Marshal Lord Garden
The Times, 14 August 2007 He was a member of the

Oxford University Air Squadron The Oxford University Air Squadron, abbreviated Oxford UAS, or OUAS, formed on 11th October 1925, is the training unit of the Royal Air Force at the University of Oxford and forms part of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. OUAS is one of fif ...

from 1962 to 1965. He was a squadron pilot on No. 3 Squadron RAF flying English Electric Canberra B(I)8 light bombers in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

before becoming a flying instructor on Jet Provosts.Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Marshal The Lord Garden
/ref> He commanded a jet flying training unit, No. 50 Squadron RAF

Avro Vulcan The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) was a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe ...

bomber squadron and a helicopter base. Garden completed his staff training with the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, and did a postgraduate International Relations degree at

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

. He spent three years as the Director of Defence Studies for the Royal Air Force, lecturing internationally on strategic studies. He was then appointed as station commander of

RAF Odiham Royal Air Force Odiham or more simply RAF Odiham is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station situated a little to the south of the village of Odiham in Hampshire, England. It is the home of the Royal Air Force's heavy lift he ...

, where he flew the Westland Puma and Boeing Chinook helicopters. He then spent six years at the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

(MoD) on both the air and central staffs, including a period on the

Air Force Board The Air Force Board of the Defence Council is responsible for the management of the Royal Air Force. Prior to the creation of the current UK Ministry of Defence in 1964, the administration of the RAF and its personnel was undertaken by the ...

as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff. His last MoD appointment was as Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Programmes) with responsibility for long term defence programme planning for all three Services. He was subsequently appointed to be Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies and was in post for the 1994 and 1995 courses. He retired from the RAF in 1996 as an air marshal.

Academia and journalism

Garden was a web-site consultant before being appointed as Director of the

Royal Institute of International Affairs Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roya ...

, London. From mid-1998, he was a writer, broadcaster and lecturer, and undertook projects for the British Government, the

US Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. He was joint chief editor for ''The Source'', an internet public management journal, from 1999 to 2002. In 2000, he provided advice to the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

on negotiations with

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

under the auspices of the

Adam Smith Institute The Adam Smith Institute (ASI) is a UK-based neoliberal think tank and lobbying group, named after Adam Smith, a Scottish moral philosopher and classical economist. The Institute advocates free market and classical liberal ideas, primarily ...

. He was Distinguished Visiting Fellow and Scholar-in-Residence to

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

for the Spring 2001 Semester, and thereafter lectured there regularly by video. He returned to

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

in early 2004 as the

Herman B Wells Herman B Wells (June 7, 1902 – March 18, 2000), a native of Boone County, Indiana, was the eleventh president of Indiana University Bloomington and its first university chancellor. He was pivotal in the transformation of Indiana Universi ...

Professor. He was visiting professor at the Centre for Defence Studies at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

from 2000, engaged in research projects on improving European defence capabilities, Defence Diplomacy, interoperability for NATO forces and counter-terrorism. He appeared as the military advisor on the BBC television series '' Crisis Command''. Garden wrote widely on security topics, and his publications include two books: ''Can Deterrence Last?'' and ''The Technology Trap'', both written while he was a serving RAF officer. He wrote for a number of security-related projects, including developments in NATO, European defence, missile defence proposals and global security issues. He served as a member of the panel of experts for the UK government's 1998 Strategic Defence Review, and gave evidence to the Defence Committee on the new threats after 11 September 2001.

Liberal Democrat politician

Garden was a member of the team developing defence policy for the Liberal Democrats, and was an adviser to the Lib Dem defence and foreign affairs teams. He was an elected member of the Liberal Democrat Federal Executive from 2003 to 2006 and of the Federal Policy Committee from 2003 to 2005. He became President of Liberal International British Group, and also of the Camden Liberal Democrats. He became a Liberal Democrat member of the

in June 2004, made a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

as Baron Garden, of Hampstead in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...

. At the time of his death he was the party's defence spokesman in the Lords, and was a member of the

Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Select Committee The Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee is a committee of UK parliamentarians. Members are drawn from the House of Lords. The committee has several primary functions. Orders The Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee is app ...

from 2004 to 2006. He was made a member of the Select Committee on Regulators, and was convenor of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Security and Non-Proliferation. He became President of the

Trading Standards Institute The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) is a professional association which represents and trains trading standards professionals working in local authorities, business and consumer sectors and in central government in the UK and oversea ...

in April 2005. In 2005 and 2006 Garden played a leading role in a cross-party campaign to facilitate electoral participation by armed forces personnel and their partners. According to his obituary in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', cited below,

His great legacy is the Electoral Administration Bill, for which he secured cross-party support to overcome, in the face of dogged Ministry of Defence opposition, the problems of registration and voting for members of the armed forces and their partners.

Memberships

Garden was a Fellow and Council Member of the

Royal United Services Institute The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI, Rusi) is a defence and security think tank with its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1831 by the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley ...

(FRUSI). He was an Honorary Fellow of

, a Fellow and former Council Member of the

Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest Aeronautics, aeronautical society in the world. Memb ...

(FRAeS), a Fellow of

City and Guilds of London Institute The City and Guilds of London Institute is an educational organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded on 11 November 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies to develop a national system of technical education, the institute has be ...

(FCGI) and an Associate Fellow of the

. He was a member of the

International Institute for Strategic Studies The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is an international research institute or think tank focusing on defence and security issues. Since 1997, its headquarters have been at Arundel House in London. It has offices on four co ...

, the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society () is a History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom, British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in ...

, the

British Association for the Advancement of Science The British Science Association (BSA) is a Charitable organization, charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Scienc ...

, the

Foreign Policy Centre The Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) is a British think tank specialising in foreign policy. It was founded in 1998 by Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and his colleagues. It was launched at an event with Prime Minister Tony Blair, with the aim of develop ...

, the Centre for European Reform, the Pugwash Conferences, the UK Defence Forum, the Liberal Democrat European Group, the Centre:Forum, and the Anglo-Jordanian Society. He was also a member of advisory boards to the University of Hull Centre for Security Studies, the

Königswinter Königswinter (; ; Low Franconian: ) is a town and summer resort in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Königswinter is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, opposite Bad Godesberg, at the foot of the ...

Conference, the Oxford Research Group, and the Cambridge University Centre of International Studies. He was a member of the DERA Analysis Board between 1997 and 2000, and was the UK representative to the

NATO Defence College NATO Defense College (NDC) is the international military college for NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries. It is located in Rome, Italy. History The idea of a NATO Defense College originated with General Dwight D. Eisenhower, t ...

in Rome from 1997 to 2001. He was Chairman of the Rippon Group, which acts a focus for EU issues, from 2000 to 2006, and was a Patron of Saferworld and Crisis Action. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the US Foreign Policy Association in 1997. He was a Commissioner to the Commission on Globalisation from 2002 to 2004. He was a member of the

Beefsteak Club Beefsteak Club is the name or nickname of several 18th- and 19th-century male dining clubs in Britain and Australia that celebrated the beefsteak as a symbol of patriotic and often Whig concepts of liberty and prosperity. The first beefsteak c ...

, the 63/68 Club, the National Liberal Club (of which he was Vice Chairman), and of the Royal Air Force Club. Garden retained his connections with the Services as President of London & South East Region

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, volunteer youth organisation; aligned to, and fostering the knowledge and learning of military values, primarily focusing on military aviation. Part of the ...

and as Hon. Vice President of the RAF Rowing Club. He was President of the

Combined Cadet Force The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which operates in schools, sub divided into Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army and Royal Air Force sections. Its aim is to ...

Association from 2000 to 2003. He was a

Liveryman A livery company is a type of guild or professional association that originated in medieval times in London, England. Livery companies comprise London's ancient and modern trade associations and guilds, almost all of which are styled the "Wors ...

of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, President of the RAF Oxford & Cambridge Society, and was also a member of the RAF Historical Society. He was President of the Adastral Burns Club. He was a Founder Member of the British Armed Forces Federation.

Personal life

Garden was son of Joseph, an engineer. He had two daughters with his wife, Sue, who stood for the Liberal Democrats in

Finchley and Golders Green Finchley and Golders Green is a constituency created in 1997. It is represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Sarah Sackman of the Labour Party. Boundaries The constituency covers Finchley, Golders Green, Childs Hill, Te ...

at the 2005 general election. Shortly after his death, it was announced on 13 September 2007 that a life peerage was to be conferred on Sue Garden. His daughters are: * Alexandra Whitfield (The Hon. Mrs Whitfield) (married Paul Whitfield) * Antonia Rolph (The Hon. Mrs Rolph) (married Jon Rolph)

Death

Garden was diagnosed with incurable

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

a few weeks before his death. According to press reports, he adopted a very philosophical attitude to his illness, explaining to a friend how many of his fellow aircrew who had even less luck and were lost in their twenties and thirties. The then Liberal Democrat leader Sir

Menzies Campbell Walter Menzies Campbell, Baron Campbell of Pittenweem, (; born 22 May 1941), often known as Ming Campbell, is a Scottish politician, advocate and former athlete. A member of the Liberal Democrats, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for North ...

paid tribute to Lord Garden in a statement published on the party's website: "Tim Garden has been an outstanding member of the Liberal Democrat team in the House of Lords where his wisdom and top level military experience were widely recognised. His advice to

Charles Kennedy Charles Peter Kennedy (25 November 19591 June 2015) was a British politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 1983 to 2015. Kennedy wa ...

and myself during the Iraq war was invaluable. We have also lost a close friend who was an unfailingly generous and warm-hearted man. The whole party extends its deepest sympathy to his wife and family." Liberal Democrat deputy leader in the House of Lords,

Lord Wallace of Saltaire William John Lawrence Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire, (born 12 March 1941 in Leicester), is a British academic, writer, and Liberal Democrat politician, who was a Lord in Waiting from 2010 to 2015. Early life Wallace was educated at Wes ...

, echoed Campbell's words: "Tim was both an expert and a radical, he offered invaluable advice on defence and foreign policy. He gave the Liberal Democrats depth in criticising the mistaken policy on Iraq, which was vitally important. He was also a very active parliamentarian, leading an all-party group on defence and conflict issues and on the delegated powers and instruments committee. We will miss him immensely."

Honours

Garden was appointed a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregi ...

in 1992, which was advanced to

Knight Commander Knight Commander (or Dame Commander) is the second most senior grade of seven British orders of chivalry, three of which are dormant (and one of them continues as a German house order). The rank entails admission into knighthood, allowing the rec ...

in 1994. He was appointed as a Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

by President Chirac in July 2003 for his work on European defence issues. Garden was elevated to the

life peerage In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

as Baron Garden, of

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

in the

, in 2004.

References

External links

Tim Garden Archives
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060309193503/http://www.libdems.org.uk/party/people/lord-lord-garden.html Lord Gardenprofile at the site of Liberal Democrats
theyworkforyou.com
Record of parliamentary activity
Obituary, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 14 August 2007Obituary, ''The Times'', 14 August 2007Obituary, ''The Guardian'', 14 August 2007Obituary, ''The Independent'', 17 August 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garden, Timothy Garden, Baron 1944 births 2007 deaths Royal Air Force air marshals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers Alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford Fellows of St Catherine's College, Oxford Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Academics of King's College London Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society Deaths from cancer in England People educated at King's School, Worcester Knights of the Legion of Honour Military personnel from Worcester, England People from Hampstead Council and directors of Chatham House Spouses of life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II