John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley

The Right Honourable The Viscount Waverley GCB OM GCSI GCIE PC PC (Ire) FRS


Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 24 September 1943 – 26 July 1945
Prime Minister	Winston Churchill
Preceded by	Kingsley Wood
Succeeded by	Hugh Dalton
Lord President of the Council
In office 3 October 1940 – 24 September 1943
Prime Minister	Winston Churchill
Preceded by	Neville Chamberlain
Succeeded by	Clement Attlee
Home Secretary
In office 4 September 1939 – 3 October 1940
Prime Minister	Neville Chamberlain Winston Churchill
Preceded by	Samuel Hoare
Succeeded by	Herbert Morrison
Lord Privy Seal
In office 27 October 1938 – 4 September 1939
Prime Minister	Neville Chamberlain
Preceded by	Herbrand Sackville
Succeeded by	Samuel Hoare
Member of Parliament for Combined Scottish Universities
In office 25 February 1938 – 23 February 1950
Preceded by	Ramsay MacDonald
Succeeded by	Constituency Abolished

Personal details
Born	(1882-07-08)8 July 1882 Eskbank, Midlothian, Scotland
Died	4 January 1958(1958-01-04) (aged 75) Lambeth, London, England
Political party	National
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh University of Leipzig

John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, PC, PC (Ire), FRS^[1] (8 July 1882 – 4 January 1958) was a British civil servant and politician who is best known for his service in the Cabinet during the Second World War, for which he was nicknamed the "Home Front Prime Minister". He served as Home Secretary, Lord President of the Council and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Anderson shelters are named after him.

Early life

He was born in Eskbank, part of Dalkeith in Midlothian and studied mathematics and geology at the University of Edinburgh and chemistry at the University of Leipzig where he wrote a thesis on the chemistry of uranium. He was a brilliant student, winning numerous prizes, but at the age of 22 he decided to forsake a career in science and sat for the British civil service examinations, coming first, while also taking a degree in economics. In later life he was elected an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society.^[1]

He was appointed to the Colonial Office in 1905.

Aged only thirty-four, Anderson headed the Civil Service staff of the new Ministry of Shipping in 1917.^[2] Later, he served as Under-Secretary for Ireland, and became Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office in 1922, where he had to deal with the General Strike of 1926. His career in the civil service was capped by a posting as Governor of Bengal from 1932 to 1937. On January 15th, 1935 he met with Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.

Bhaktisiddhanta and Governor of Bengal John Anderson

Public career

In early 1938, Anderson was elected to the House of Commons by the Scottish Universities as a National Independent Member of Parliament, a non-party supporter of the National Government. In October that year he entered Neville Chamberlain's Cabinet as Lord Privy Seal. In that capacity, he was put in charge of air raid preparations. He initiated the development of a kind of air-raid shelter named the "Anderson shelter", a small sheet metal cylinder made of prefabricated pieces which could be assembled in a garden and partially buried to protect against bomb blast.

War time

After the outbreak of war in 1939, Anderson returned to hold the joint portfolio of Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security, a position in which he served under Winston Churchill, often attending his War Cabinet. He retained responsibility for civil defence. In October 1940, he was replaced by Herbert Morrison in a reshuffle precipitated by Chamberlain's resignation over ill-health. He became Lord President of the Council and full member of the War Cabinet.

In 1941, he married Ava (Bodley) Wigram, widow of Ralph Wigram, a senior civil servant who had provided Winston Churchill with confidential military information during the 1930s.

In January 1945 the Prime Minister wrote to King George VI to advise that should he and his second-in-command (and heir apparent) Anthony Eden die during the war, John Anderson should become Prime Minister: 'it is the Prime Minister's duty to advise Your Majesty to send for Sir John Anderson in the event of the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary being killed.' Although not a member of a political party, Churchill thought Anderson had the abilities to lead the National Government, and that an independent figure was essential to the maintenance of the coalition.^[3]

Following the unexpected death of Sir Kingsley Wood, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Anderson was appointed to that office. As Chancellor, in a written Commons answer of 12 June 1945, he announced the creation of the Arts Council of Great Britain, a successor body to the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA).^[4] He remained in the post until the Labour victory in the general election early in July 1945 (not announced until August).

Post-war

He left the Commons when the University constituencies were abolished at the 1950 general election. Meanwhile, he became Chairman of the Port of London authority in 1946 and Chairman of the Royal Opera House in March the same year.^[5] He remained in the latter post for eleven years.

He rejected an offer to join Churchill's peacetime administration when it was formed in October 1951, and was created Viscount Waverley, of Westdean in the County of Sussex, in 1952, dying six years later at the age of 75 in St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth, London.^[6]

Styles

1882–1918: John Anderson
1918–1919: John Anderson, CB
1919–1920: Sir John Anderson, KCB
1920–1923: Sir John Anderson, KCB, PC (Ire.)
1923–1932: Sir John Anderson, GCB, PC (Ire.)
1932–1937: His Excellency Sir John Anderson, GCB, GCIE, PC (Ire.)
1937–1938: Sir John Anderson, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, PC (Ire.)
1938–1945: The Right Honourable Sir John Anderson, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, PC, PC (Ire.)
1945–1952: The Right Honourable Sir John Anderson, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, PC, PC (Ire.), FRS
1952–1956: The Right Honourable The Viscount Waverley, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, PC, PC (Ire.), FRS
1956–1958: The Right Honourable The Viscount Waverley, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, PC, PC (Ire.), FRS

References

1 2 Bridges, L.; Dale, H. (1958). "John Anderson, Viscount Waverley 1882-1958". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 4: 306. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1958.0024.
↑ Grigg, John (2002) Lloyd George: War Leader, 1916–1918 Allen Lane, London. ISBN 0-713-99343-X. pp. 45–9
↑ Wheeler-Bennet, J. (1958) King George VI: His Life and Reign, pp. 544–46.
↑ Hansard, HC Debate 12 June 1945
↑ Lebrecht, Norman (2000) Covent Garden: the Untold Story: Dispatches From the English Culture War, 1945–2000, London: Simon & Schuster, pp. 80–81
↑ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 12 May 2016.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley.

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Anderson
"Archival material relating to John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley". UK National Archives.

Government offices
Preceded by James Macmahon Macmahon also remained Joint Under-Secretary	Joint Permanent Under-Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1920–1922	Office abolished
Preceded by Sir Edward Troup	Permanent Under-Secretary for the Home Department 1922–1932	Succeeded by Sir Russell Scott
Preceded by Sir Stanley Jackson	Governor of Bengal 1932–1937	Succeeded by The Lord Brabourne
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Ramsay MacDonald	Member of Parliament for Combined Scottish Universities 1938–1950	Constituency abolished
Political offices
Preceded by The Earl De La Warr	Lord Privy Seal 1938–1939	Succeeded by Sir Samuel Hoare
Preceded by Sir Samuel Hoare	Home Secretary 1939–1940	Succeeded by Herbert Morrison
Preceded by Neville Chamberlain	Lord President of the Council 1940–1943	Succeeded by Clement Attlee
Preceded by Sir Kingsley Wood	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1943–1945	Succeeded by Hugh Dalton
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Viscount Waverley 1952–1958	Succeeded by David Alastair Pearson Anderson

Chancellors of the Exchequer
of England	Eustace of Fauconberg Maunsell Leicester Westminster Chishull W. Giffard G. Giffard Chishull de la Leye Willoughby Benstead Sandale Hotham Stanton Harvington Wodehouse Stratford Ashby Ashton Barnham Somer Somerset Browne Witham Thwaites Witham Fowler Catesby Lovell Berners Cromwell Baker Sackville Mildmay Fortescue Dunbar Caesar Greville Portland Barrett Cottington Colepeper Hyde Ashley Duncombe Ernle Delamer Hampden Montagu Smith Boyle
of Great Britain	Boyle Smith Harley Benson Wyndham Onslow Walpole Stanhope Aislabie Pratt Walpole Sandys Pelham Lee Bilson-Legge Lyttelton Bilson-Legge Mansfield Bilson-Legge Barrington Dashwood Grenville Dowdeswell Townshend North Cavendish Pitt Cavendish Pitt Addington Pitt Ellenborough Petty Perceval Vansittart
of the United Kingdom	Vansittart Robinson Canning Tenterden Herries Goulburn Althorp Denman Peel Spring Rice Baring Goulburn Wood Disraeli Gladstone Lewis Disraeli Gladstone Disraeli Hunt Lowe Gladstone Northcote Gladstone Childers Hicks Beach Harcourt R. Churchill Goschen Harcourt Hicks Beach Ritchie A. Chamberlain Asquith Lloyd George McKenna Law A. Chamberlain Horne Baldwin N. Chamberlain Snowden W. Churchill Snowden N. Chamberlain Simon Wood Anderson Dalton Cripps Gaitskell Butler Macmillan Thorneycroft Heathcoat-Amory Lloyd Maudling Callaghan Jenkins Macleod Barber Healey Howe Lawson Major Lamont Clarke Brown Darling Osborne Hammond
Italic: Interim Chancellor of the Exchequer, as Lord Chief Justice

Home Secretaries of the United Kingdom
Secretary of State for the Home Department	Shelburne Townshend North Temple Sydney Grenville Dundas Portland Pelham Yorke Hawkesbury Spencer Liverpool Ryder Sidmouth Peel Sturges Bourne Lansdowne Peel Melbourne Duncannon Wellington Goulburn Russell Normanby Graham Grey Walpole Palmerston Grey Walpole Sotheron-Estcourt Lewis Grey Walpole Hardy Bruce Lowe Cross Harcourt Cross Childers Matthews Asquith Ridley Ritchie Akers-Douglas Gladstone Churchill McKenna Simon Samuel Cave Shortt Bridgeman Henderson Joynson-Hicks Clynes Samuel Gilmour Simon Hoare Anderson Morrison Somervell Chuter Ede Maxwell-Fyfe Lloyd George Butler Brooke Soskice Jenkins Callaghan Maudling Carr Jenkins Rees Whitelaw Brittan Hurd Waddington Baker K. Clarke Howard Straw Blunkett C. Clarke Reid Smith Johnson May Rudd

War Cabinet of Winston Churchill

Prime Minister Minister of Defence	Winston Churchill (1940–1945)
Deputy Prime Minister	Clement Attlee (1942–1945)
Lord President of the Council	Neville Chamberlain (1940) Sir John Anderson (1940–1943) Clement Attlee (1943–1945)
Lord Privy Seal	Clement Attlee (1940–1942) Sir Stafford Cripps (1942)
Chancellor of the Exchequer	Sir Kingsley Wood (1940–1942) Sir John Anderson (1943–1945)
Foreign Secretary	Viscount Halifax (1940) Anthony Eden (1940–1945)
Home Secretary	Herbert Morrison (1940–1945)
Minister of Aircraft Production	Lord Beaverbrook (1940–1941)
Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs	Clement Attlee (1942–1943)
Minister of Labour and National Service	Ernest Bevin (1940–1945)
Minister Resident Middle East	Oliver Lyttelton (1942) Richard Casey (1942–1944) Lord Moyne (1944)
Minister without Portfolio	Arthur Greenwood (1940–1942)
Minister of Reconstruction	Lord Woolton (1943–1945)
Minister of State	Lord Beaverbrook (1941)
Minister of Supply	Lord Beaverbrook (1941–1942)
Minister of Production	Lord Beaverbrook (1942) Oliver Lyttelton (1942–1945)

Caretaker Cabinet of Winston Churchill (May–July 1945)

Lord President of the Council	Lord Woolton
Lord Privy Seal	Lord Beaverbrook
Chancellor of the Exchequer	Sir John Anderson
Foreign Secretary	Anthony Eden
Home Secretary	Sir Donald Somervell
First Lord of the Admiralty	Brendan Bracken
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food	Robert Hudson
Secretary of State for Air	Harold Macmillan
Secretary of State for the Colonies	Oliver Stanley
Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs	Viscount Cranborne
Minister of Education	Richard Law
Secretary of State for India and Burma	Leo Amery
Minister of Labour and National Service	Rab Butler
Minister of Production President of the Board of Trade	Oliver Lyttelton
Secretary of State for Scotland	The Earl of Rosebery
Secretary of State for War	Sir P. J. Grigg

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