Duncan Edwin Duncan-Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys[1]CH, PC (/sændz/; 24 January 1908 – 26 November 1987), was a British politician and minister in successive Conservative governments in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a son-in-law of Winston Churchill and played a key role in promoting European unity after World War II.
In May 1935, he was in effect saying that Germany should have a predominant place in central Europe, so that Britain could be free to pursue her colonial interests without rival.[5] He was a prewar member of the Anglo-German Fellowship.
In November 1936 Sandys put forward to the "1912 Club" a "fanciful vision" of England in 1950 (including peace in Europe) .[6]
During the Second World War Sandys fought with 51st (London) HAA Regiment in the Norwegian campaign and was wounded in action; this left him with a permanent limp.[9]
His father-in-law gave him his first ministerial post as Financial Secretary to the War Office from 1941 to 1944 during the wartime coalition government. Sandys had been wartime Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply. W. A. Robotham who had been in the Ministry as "Chief Engineer of Tank Design" wrote that he was knowledgeable on army matters. Robotham of Rolls-Royce who had headed development of the Meteor tank engine in WWII was surprised and pleased when in 1963 Sandys said "I regard the adoption of the Meteor tank engine as the absolute turning-point in the history of British tank development", at the opening of a Rolls-Royce aero engine factory at East Kilbride (aero engines being Rolls-Royce's main business).[11]
Sandys played a key role in the creation of the European Movement. He established the United Europe Movement in Britain in 1947 following a speech of his father-in-law, Winston Churchill, in Zurich on 19 September 1946 when Churchill had called for the "European family" to be recreated and provided with "a structure under which it can dwell in peace, in safety and in freedom".
In 1947, Joseph Retinger, who had been instrumental in setting up the European League for Economic Cooperation in 1946, approached Sandys, then Honorary Secretary of the UEM, to discuss ways the League and the United Europe Movement might cooperate on questions relating to European integration. They decided to call a small conference of existing organisations working for European unity – the European League for Economic Cooperation, the United Europe Movement, the Nouvelles Equipes Internationales, the European Parliamentary Union, and the European Union of Federalists. This took place in Paris on 20 July 1947 where ELEC, the UEM, the EPU and the EUF agreed to establish the Committee for the Co-ordination of the International Movements for European Unity. The EPU did not however subsequently ratify its participation in the committee but the Nouvelles Equipes Internationales agreed to join. In December 1947, the committee was renamed the International Committee of the Movements for European Unity and Sandys was elected its chairman and Retinger its Honorary Secretary.
The Committee organised the Congress of Europe, held in The Hague from 7–11 May 1948 with 750 delegates from across Europe. Following the Congress, the International Committee was transformed into the European Movement.[13][14][15][16]
He was appointed Minister of Defence in 1957 and quickly produced the 1957 Defence White Paper that proposed a radical shift in the Royal Air Force by ending the use of fighter aircraft in favour of missile technology. Though later ministers reversed the policy, the lost orders and cuts in research were responsible for several British aircraft manufacturers going out of business. As Minister of Defence he saw the rationalisation (merger) of much of the British military aircraft and engine industry.
Sandys continued as a minister at the Commonwealth Relations Office, later combining it with the Colonies Office, until the Conservative government lost power in 1964. In this role he was responsible for granting several colonies their independence and was involved in managing the British response to several conflicts involving the armed forces of the newly independent countries of East Africa.[17]
In 1974 he retired from parliament and was awarded a life peerage on 2 May. As the title of Baron Sandys was already held by another family, he followed the example of George Brown and incorporated his first name in his title, changing his surname to Duncan-Sandys.[18] He was created Baron Duncan-Sandys, of the City of Westminster, on 2 May 1974.[1]
It has long been speculated that he may have been the 'headless man' whose identity was concealed during the scandalous divorce trial of Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, in 1963.[19]
Sandys died on 26 November 1987 at his home in London.[20] He is buried in the churchyard of St Nicholas in Child Okeford, Dorset. His grave is marked by a horizontal white slab.[21]
Children
From Sandys's first marriage, with Diana Churchill:
The Hon. Julian Sandys (19 September 1936 – 15 August 1997)
Between 1969 and 1984 he was President of Europa Nostra and acted for the preservation of the European cultural and architectural heritage.
His business activities included a Directorship of the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, which was later part of Lonrho of which he became chairman. He was therefore caught up in the scandal in which Lonrho was revealed to have bribed several African countries and broken international sanctions against Rhodesia, as well as the "unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism" episode involving eight directors being sacked by Tiny Rowland.[22]
Career summary
Coalition Government
20 July 1941 – 7 February 1943, Financial Secretary to the War Office
7 February 1943 – 21 November 1944, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Supply
21 November 1944 – 25 May 1945, Minister of Works
Caretaker Government
25 May 1945 – 26 July 1945, Minister of Works
Conservative Government
31 October 1951 – 18 October 1954, Minister of Supply
18 October 1954 – 13 January 1957, Minister of Housing and Local Government
13 January 1957 – 14 October 1959, Minister of Defence
14 October 1959 – 27 July 1960, Minister of Aviation
27 July 1960 – 13 July 1962, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations
13 July 1962 – 16 October 1964, Secretary of State for the Colonies and Commonwealth Relations
^"Politician divorced". The Argus. Melbourne, Victoria. 14 January 1921. Retrieved 10 August 2018. LONDON, Jan. 13. Mrs. Mildred Helen Sandys, who is a daughter of the late Mr. Duncan Cameron, of Springfield, Canterbury, New Zealand, has obtained a decree divorce against her husband, Mr. George John Sandys, who was member of the House of Commons for the Wells division of Somerset from 1910 to 1918 on the ground of the respondent's misconduct. Mr. Sandys served with the Guards in the South African and European wars. He was married in 1905, and has one son.
^"Former M.P. for Wells Divorced". Gloucester Citizen. Gloucestershire, England. 13 January 1921.
.svg)
