Sir Eric Campbell Geddes was a British businessman and Conservative politician.
20 Facts About Eric Geddes
2.
Eric Geddes then served as First Lord of the Admiralty between 1917 and 1919.
3.
Eric Geddes 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".
4.
Eric Geddes was educated at Oxford Military College and Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh, until asked to leave.
5.
Eric Geddes was briefly considered as a possible chairman of the London and North Eastern Railway when that was formed at the end of 1922, but the choice fell to William Whitelaw.
6.
In 1915 Eric Geddes was selected by Lloyd George and given the title of deputy director general of munitions supply, whereupon he left the NER.
7.
Shell production was booming but these were not adequately getting filled with explosive, and so Eric Geddes was made responsible for them in December 1916; within six months the number of filled shells increased tenfold to two million per week, and the filled shells piled up on French docks.
8.
Haig was so impressed that the visit was extended to a month and then Eric Geddes was appointed Director General of Military Railways and Inspector-General of Transportation with the rank of major general.
9.
Eric Geddes was knighted in 1916 and appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1917.
10.
Eric Geddes was promoted to inspector general of transportation in all theatres of war.
11.
Eric Geddes was given control of British shipbuilding, charged with making up for as many of the losses as possible.
12.
Eric Geddes found the Admiralty in disarray and wrote to his friend Field Marshal Haig about the lack of drive.
13.
Haig and Eric Geddes breakfasted with Lloyd George to demand a new administration in the Admiralty.
14.
On 6 July 1917 Eric Geddes, strongly recommended by Haig, returned to civilian life as First Lord of the Admiralty.
15.
Eric Geddes was sworn into the Privy Council the same month.
16.
Eric Geddes appointed the Belfast shipbuilder Lord Pirrie as controller-general of merchant shipbuilding, and brought William Henry Bragg into the Admiralty to oversee antisubmarine science: they were working with the French to develop sonar which was ready just when the war ended.
17.
Eric Geddes had neither taste nor aptitude for political infighting, he resigned in November 1921.
18.
In 1921 Eric Geddes chaired the Committee on National Expenditure which proposed heavy cuts in public expenditure to match falling national income, the austerity policy became known as the Eric Geddes Axe.
19.
Eric Geddes resigned from the government and the Commons in 1922, becoming director of Dunlop Rubber.
20.
Eric Geddes died in June 1937, at the age of 61, after several years of declining health.