William George Tyrrell, 1st Baron Tyrrell, (17 August 1866 – 14 March 1947) was a British civil servant and diplomat. He was

Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs This is a list of Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Permanent Under-Secretaries in the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (and its predecessors) since 1790. Not to be confused with Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State f ...

between 1925 and 1928 and British Ambassador to France from 1928 to 1934.

Background and education

Tyrrell was the son of Sir Judge William Henry Tyrrell and his wife Julia Wakefield (daughter of Col. John Howard Wakefield and his Christian-convert wife, Maria Isobel, daughter of the Hereditary

Vizier A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...

of Bushahr). He was the nephew-in-law of Hugo ''Fürst'' Radoliński-Leszczyc von Radolin. Tyrrell was educated in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

(he spoke fluent German) and at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

Career

Tyrrell served in 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 * United ...

from 1889 to 1928. He was private secretary to the

Thomas Sanderson from 1896 to 1903 and then secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence from 1903 to 1904 before being appointed as second secretary at the British embassy in

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. He returned firstly as precis-writer from 1905 to 1907 and later, with Louis Mallet, as private secretary to Sir Edward Grey from 1907 to 1915. Tyrrell supported the ''

Entente Cordiale The Entente Cordiale (; ) comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and the French Third Republic, French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Fr ...

'' with

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and did not think a ''rapprochement'' with the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

was possible before 1914. There were secret renewal propose alliances with German Empire. He appears to have been one of Grey's few intimates but an inherent laziness and frustration with red tape make an assessment of his influence difficult. Certainly however Tyrrell played a more important role than his title might suggest and, for example, in the autumn of 1913 he was sent to Washington as a personal ambassador by Grey to discuss the situation in Mexico following the overthrow of Francisco I. Madero. In the spring of 1915 Tyrrell appears to have suffered an almost total breakdown (perhaps precipitated by the death of his younger son that year) and he was moved to a less stressful job at the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

before being made head of the Political Intelligence Department from 1916 to 1919. At the Paris Peace Conference, he served on the British Empire Delegation as Lord Hardinge's assistant. He was Permanent Under-Secretary from 1925 to 1928 and British Ambassador to France from 1928 to 1934. As Permanent Under-Secretary he did not think there was a military threat from the

Japanese Empire The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From 1910 to ...

and that the

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was the enemy. As Ambassador he worked for an Anglo-French agreement. He was also suspicious of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

after

Adolf Hitler's rise to power The rise to power of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919, when Hitler joined the ''German Workers' Party, Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Par ...

. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1928 and made a Peer as Baron Tyrrell of Avon in the County of Southampton, in 1929. In 1935 he was appointed President of the British Board of Film Censors, a post he held until 1947.

Personal life

Lord Tyrrell married Margaret Ann, daughter of David Urquhart, in 1890. He died in March 1947, aged 80, when the barony became extinct as both his sons had been killed in the First World War.

Notes

References

*John Ramsden, ''The Oxford Companion to 20th Century British Politics'' (Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 654–55. * L.B. Namier, ''Avenues of History'' (London, 1952) *Zara S. Steiner, ''The Foreign Office and Foreign Policy 1989–1914'' (Cambridge, 1969) *F. H. Hinsley (ed.), ''British Foreign Policy Under Sir Edward Grey'' (Cambridge, 1977)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tyrrell 1866 births 1947 deaths Members of HM Diplomatic Service Diplomatic peers Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to France Civil servants in the Home Office Private secretaries in the British Civil Service Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Principal Private Secretaries to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Barons created by George V People of the British Council 20th-century British diplomats Wakefield family