Edmund Wyldbore-Smith
British civil servant, diplomat, and businessman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Edmund Charles Wyldbore-Smith (15 January 1877 – 18 October 1938) was a British civil servant, diplomat, and businessman.
Biography
Smith, whose father and grandfather were Anglican clergymen, was the great-grandson[1][2] of the second Smith-Marriott Baronet, Sir John Wyldbore Smith.[3]
In 1901, he married Evadne Maude Kellet; and the couple had two daughters.
Career
In the early 1900s, Wyldbore-Smith served in the Foreign Office beginning his service as Vice-Consul at Tangiers in 1903.[4] Four years later he was appointed Vice-Consul in Canea (modern Chania), Crete.[5] In January 1910 he transferred to the Board of Trade where he was employed as Officer-in-Charge of Commercial Enquiries in its recently established Exhibitions Branch; in effect he acted as deputy to the Director of the Branch, Ulick Fitzgerald Wintour.[6] During the First World War, Smith was Director of the British Executive Staff of the Commission Internationale de Ravitaillement,[7] which was the international commission for the purchase of supplies for the Allies.[8]
Wyldbore-Smith resignation from the Civil Service in 1919 opened the way for a career in business. He was appointed chairman of Thomas Cook (both the travel agency and the banking firm), succeeding Frank Cook, who was the grandson of the company's founder.
Wyldbore-Smith served as vice-president of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (International Sleeping-Car Company) and vice-president of the Federation of British Industries. He also served as a director of the Suez Canal Company.
Honours
In 1906, he was elected to the Royal Statistical Society.[4]
Smith was awarded decorations of seven countries, including:
- Knight Bachelor (United Kingdom)
- Légion d'Honneur (France)
- Order of Leopold (Belgium)
- Order of the Crown of Italy, 1918 (Italy).[7]
- Order of George I, 1920 (Greece).[9]
- Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1920 (Japan).[10]
- Order of the Crown of Romania, 1921.[11]