Sir Auckland Geddes

Auckland Geddes (1879–1954) entered public life through medicine and military service. After medical training he taught anatomy at McGill University. He enlisted during the First World War, but a riding accident prevented continued service at the front. He moved into military administration and recruiting, eventually becoming a brigadier-general. Appointed director of National Service in 1917, he entered Parliament for Basingstoke that year and subsequently held other cabinet posts. ¹

Geddes became ambassador in Washington in 1920. At the Washington Conference he was one of Britain’s plenipotentiaries who signed the naval limitation treaty on 6 February 1922. The agreement restricted capital ship construction and tonnage among the five naval powers. Britain and the United States each received an aggregate capital ship limit of 525,000 tons, Japan 315,000, and France and Italy 175,000 each. Geddes signed alongside Arthur Balfour and Lord Lee and representatives of the Dominions and India. ²

He also investigated complaints about the treatment of British immigrants at Ellis Island. After an inspection in December 1922, his report criticized overcrowding, ventilation, and confinement in dirty detention areas, while treating the food and kitchen more favorably. American officials considered substantial repairs and commissioned a public health investigation of sanitation and ventilation. ³

Ill health ended Geddes’s Washington service. He subsequently became chairman of the Rio Tinto Company and was raised to the peerage in 1942. ¹