Roger Makins, 1st Baron Sherfield

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Roger Mellor Makins, 1st Baron Sherfield, GCB, GCMG, FRS (3 February 19049 November 1996), was a British diplomat who served as British Ambassador to the United States from 1953 to 1956.

Makins was the son of Brigadier-General Sir Ernest Makins (1869-1959) and Isabella Mellor. He was educated at Winchester and Christ Church, Oxford, and was called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1927. However, he never practiced and instead joined the Diplomatic Service in 1928. Makins later served as Minister at at the British Embassy in Washington from 1945 to 1947, as Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office from 1947 to 1948 and as Deputy Under-Secretary of State from 1948 to 1952. In 1953 he was appointed Ambassador to the United States, a post he held until 1956. After his return from Washington he served as Joint Permanent Secretary to The Treasury from 1956 to 1960 and as Chairman of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority from 1960 to 1964.

Makins was appointed to the post of Chancellor of the University of Reading in 1969, and retained this position until 1992.[1]

A Millais from Makins' collection
A Millais from Makins' collection

Makins became a CMG in 1944, a KCMG in 1949 and a GCMG in 1955 and was also a GCB and a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1960 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Sherfield, of Sherfield-on-Loddon in the County of Southampton.

On April 30, 1934, in an Episcopal ceremony in Tallahassee, Florida, he married an American, Alice Brooks Davis, the daughter of Dwight F. Davis, founder of the Davis Cup and former U.S. Secretary of War.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Reading welcomes its new chancellor", Bulletin, University of Reading, 2008-01-17, pp. 6-7. 

[edit] External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Sir Oliver Franks
British Ambassador to the United States
1953–1956
Succeeded by
Sir Harold Caccia
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
New Creation
Baron Sherfield
1964–1996
Succeeded by
Christopher James Makins
Academic offices
Preceded by
Lord Bridges
Chancellor of the University of Reading
1970-1992
Succeeded by
Lord Carrington