Geddes
Geddes names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Geddes SIR AUCKLAND CAMP- BELL, a British statesman
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
SIR AUCKLAND CAMP- BELL, a British statesman. He was born in 1879 and received his preliminary education at George Watson's College, Edinburgh. He studied medicine at Edinburgh University, London Hospital, and Freiburg, and after graduating became demonstrator and assistant professor of anatomy at Edinburgh University. Later he was professor of anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, and also at McGill University, Canada. He served in the war against the Boer republic and also in the World War, 1914-16. During 1916-17 he was Director of Recruiting in the War Office, and in 1917, 1918, and 1919 was Minister of National Service, becoming also, in 1917, Unionist member in Parliament for the Basingstoke and Andover division of Hampshire. He was knighted in 1917, became President of the Local Government Board in 1918, and President of the Board of Trade and Minister of Reconstruction in 1919. In the beginning of 1920 he became British Ambassador in Washington.
Geddes SIR ERIC (CAMPBELL)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
SIR ERIC (CAMPBELL). an English public official. He was born in India in 1876 and was educated at Oxford Military College and Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh. After leaving school he engaged in lumbering in the Southern States of America and was an employee of the Baltimore and Ohio railway. Later he was connected with the Rohilkund and Kumaon railway, India, and returning to England became deputy general manager of the North Eastern SIR ERIC GEDDES railway. During the World War he be came Deputy Director-General of Military Railways and Inspector-General of Transportation. In 1917, he became honorable Major-General, additional member of the Board of Admiralty, Navy Controller, and Temporary Honorable Vice- Admiral. In 1918 he was a member of the Imperial War Cabinet and First Lord of the Admiralty. He has been member of Parliament for Cambridge since 1917 and Minister without portfolio since 1919.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote in 1921, both Geddes brothers were still in mid-career, and the biggest thing either would be remembered for had not yet happened. Within a year Sir Eric chaired the committee whose 1922 report on public spending cuts became known as the "Geddes Axe" — a phrase still used in Britain for sweeping retrenchment; he left politics soon after and spent the rest of his life in business, chairing Imperial Airways from its 1924 founding and Dunlop Rubber, until his death in 1937. Sir Auckland, described here as newly arrived as ambassador in Washington, held that post until 1924, went on to chair Rio Tinto, was created Baron Geddes in 1942 and died in 1954. The medical and railway backgrounds Collier's sets out are accurate, but the entries stop just short of the careers that made the name famous.
Written for this edition, 2026.