William Tyrrell, 1st Baron Tyrrell

Tyrrellc.1918-20

William George Tyrrell, 1st Baron Tyrrell,GCB,GCMG,KCVO,PC(17 August 1866 – 14 March 1947) was a British civil servant and diplomat. He wasPermanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairsbetween 1925 and 1928 andBritish Ambassador to Francefrom 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 HereditaryVizierofBushahr).

He was the nephew-in-law ofHugoFürstRadoliński-Leszczyc von Radolin.

Tyrrell was educated inGermany(he spoke fluent German) and atBalliol College, Oxford.

Career

Tyrrell served in theForeign Officefrom 1889 to 1928. He was private secretary to thePermanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign AffairsThomas Sandersonfrom 1896 to 1903 and then secretary to theCommittee of Imperial Defencefrom 1903 to 1904 before being appointed as second secretary at the British embassy in Rome. He returned firstly as precis-writer from 1905 to 1907 and later, withLouis Mallet,as private secretary toSir Edward Greyfrom 1907 to 1915.

Tyrrell supported theEntente CordialewithFranceand did not think arapprochementwithImperial Germanywas 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 toWashingtonas a personal ambassador by Grey to discuss the situation in Mexico following the overthrow ofFrancisco 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 theHome Officebefore being made head of thePolitical Intelligence Departmentfrom 1916 to 1919. He wasPermanent Under-Secretaryfrom 1925 to 1928 andBritish Ambassador to Francefrom 1928 to 1934. As Permanent Under-Secretary he did not think there was a military threat fromJapanand thatRussiawas the enemy and as Ambassador he worked for an Anglo-French agreement. He was also suspicious ofNazi Germany.He was sworn of thePrivy Councilin 1928and made aPeerasBaron TyrrellofAvonin the County of Southampton, in 1929.In 1935 he was appointed President of theBritish 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.

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

• Newspaper clippings about William Tyrrell, 1st Baron Tyrrellin the20th Century Press Archivesof theZBW