Eric Campbell Geddes
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The Right Honourable Sir Eric Campbell Geddes GCB GBE |
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Geddes, illustration from a newspaper of 1917
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| First Lord of the Admiralty | |
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In office 17 July 1917 – 10 January 1919 |
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| Monarch | George V |
| Prime Minister | David Lloyd George |
| Preceded by | Sir Edward Carson |
| Succeeded by | Walter Long |
| Minister of Transport | |
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In office 19 May 1919 – 7 November 1921 |
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| Monarch | George V |
| Prime Minister | David Lloyd George |
| Preceded by | New office |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount Peel |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
26 September 1875 British India |
| Died | 22 June 1937 (aged 61) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Gwendolen Stokes |
Sir Eric Campbell Geddes GCB GBE PC (26 September 1875 – 22 June 1937) was a British businessman and Conservative politician. With a background in railways, he served as head of Military Transportation on the Western Front, with the rank of major-general. He then served as First Lord of the Admiralty (with the rank of vice-admiral, despite its being a political position) between 1917 and 1919. He then served as the first Minister of Transport between 1919 and 1921, in which position he was responsible for the deep public spending cuts known as the "Geddes Axe".
Born in British India, Geddes was the son of Auckland Campbell Geddes, of Edinburgh, Scotland, and the elder brother of Auckland Geddes, 1st Baron Geddes. He was educated at Oxford Military College and Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh, until asked to leave.
Geddes then spent 2 1⁄2 years drifting between jobs like lumberjack and steelworker in the United States, eventually becoming a stationmaster for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, rising to car-tracer. When he abruptly returned home, his older sister gave him a firm talking-to; late in 1895 he was sent to India for a minor job in estate management, where he built light railways before moving to the Rohilkund and Kumaon railway; he became superintendent in 1901. Returning to England because of his wife's poor health, he joined the North-Eastern Railway, and rose to be deputy general manager in 1911.
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