Burke Trend, Baron Trend

Burke St John Trend, Baron Trend, GCB, CVO, PC (2 January 1914 – 21 July 1987)^[1] was a British civil servant and later Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford.

Trend was educated at Whitgift School and Merton College, Oxford, where he obtained first class honours in classics. He then joined the Civil Service, spending most of his career in the Treasury. He became Cabinet Secretary under both Harold Wilson and Ted Heath between 1963 to 1973.

Trend was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in the 1953 Birthday Honours.^[2] He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1955 New Year Honours,^[3] promoted to Knight Commander (KCB) in the 1962 Birthday Honours^[4] and a Knight Grand Cross in the 1968 New Year Honours.^[5] On 7 March 1974 he was created a life peer as Baron Trend, of Greenwich in Greater London.^[6]

He led an investigation in the 1970s into allegations of penetration of the British Secret Services from before World War II until the 1960s. His conclusion was that there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations. Peter Wright in his memoirs, Spycatcher, discusses Trend and his report.^[7]

His son, Michael Trend, was a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1992 until 2005. He also had another son named Patrick and two grandsons called Alexander and Hector, and two granddaughters called Cassandra and Tabitha.

References

Secretaries of the Cabinet Colonel Maurice Hankey Sir Edward Bridges Sir Norman Brook General Sir Hastings Ismay Sir Burke Trend Sir John Hunt Sir Robert Armstrong Sir Robin Butler Sir Richard Wilson Sir Andrew Turnbull Sir Gus O'Donnell Sir Jeremy Heywood