Anthony Eden

The Right Honourable Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC (June 12, 1897– January 14, 1977), British politician, was Foreign Secretary during World War II and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1950s. He is remembered mainly for his role in the disastrous Suez Crisis of 1956. In a 2004 poll of 139 political science academics organised by MORI, Eden was voted the least successful British Prime Minister of the 20th Century.

Early career

Eden was born in Durham, where his family had been local landowners for many generations. His mother, Sybil Grey, was a member of the famous Grey family of Northumberland (see below). He studied at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated in oriental languages.(He was fluent in French, German and Persian. He also spoke Russian and Arabic). Following a military career during the First World War, during which he received a Military Cross, Eden entered politics in 1923 when he was elected Member of Parliament for Warwick and Leamington, as a Conservative. In that year also he married Beatrice Beckett. They had two sons, but the marriage was not a success and broke up under the strain of Eden's political career.

Related Topics:
Durham - Northumberland - Eton - Christ Church, Oxford - First World War - Military Cross - 1923 - Member of Parliament - Warwick and Leamington - Conservative

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Eden became Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Foreign Office in 1926. In 1931 he was promoted to Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs. In 1934 he was appointed Lord Privy Seal and Minster for the League of Nations in Stanley Baldwin's Government. Like many of his generation who had served in the First World War, Eden was strongly anti-war and strove to work through the League of Nations to preserve European peace. He was however among the first to recognise that peace could not be maintained by appeasement of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. He privately opposed the policy of the Foreign Secretary, Sir Samuel Hoare, of trying to appease Italy during its invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935. When Hoare resigned after the failure of the Hoare-Laval Pact, Eden succeeded him as Foreign Secretary.

Related Topics:
Foreign Office - 1926 - 1931 - 1934 - Lord Privy Seal - League of Nations - Stanley Baldwin - Appeasement - Nazi Germany - Fascist - Italy - Sir Samuel Hoare - Invasion of Abyssinia - Ethiopia - 1935 - Hoare-Laval Pact

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At this stage in his career Eden was considered as something of a leader of fashion. He regularly wore a Homburg hat (similar to a bowler hat but with an upturned brim), which became forever known in Britain by his name.

Related Topics:
Homburg - Bowler hat

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He had an elder brother called Timothy.

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