GEDDES, SiR Eric Campbell, British statesman and administrator: b. Agra, India, 1875. Intended for the army, young Geddes was sent to Scotland and educated at Merchis ton Castle School, Edinburgh. He later passed the preliminary examinations at the Oxford Military College at the age of 17, but did not pursue the course. Working his passage to America, he found employment in the Carnegie steel works at Homestead, Pa. Afterward he drifted to Nicolette, near Parkersburg, W. Va., and worked for a time in a lumber camp. He was then 20 years old. A young woman tele graph operator at a nearby station taught him the Morse code. Geddes' next undertaking was that of a switchman on the Baltimore and Ohio. Railroad. He rose to station master at a small place, remained there three years and then re turned to England. Before long, however, he set out for Australia, but disembarked at Ceylon and took up sugar planting. After try ing this occupation for a short time Geddes went to India and became manager of a large forestry concern. Here he brought his Amen can experience into play by constructing and run ning a two-foot six-inch light railway through the jungle. His little railroad was eventually amalgamated with a larger line and Geddes be came traffic manager of the Rohilkund-Kumaon Railway. He resigned in 1903, returned to Eng land, and entered the service of the North eastern Railway. From claims agent he rose to deputy general manager, which position he held at the outbreak of the European War in 1914. When the British government took con trol of all the railroads, Geddes was appointed chairman of the central committee of railway authorities for the mobilization of the Northern District.
In the early part of 1915, when a Ministry of Munitions was instituted, Lloyd-George, first head of the new department, appointed Geddes deputy director-general of munitions supply. Between May and December 1915 he controlled and organized the supply of rifles, machine guns, small arms, ammunition, optical instru ments and glass, transport vehicles and salvage, and also had administrative control of the Royal Ordnance Factories of Woolwich, Wal tham and Enfield. At the end of 1915 he had put all departments in working order and del egated their supervision. He retained control of Woolwich Arsenal and was placed in charge of the filling of ffun ammunition and the organization of the national filling factories.
During the battle of the Somme, when the supply of munitions had become abundant and the fill ing factories were in full operation, Geddes went to France to report on the transport situation there. He next reorganized the whole trans portation services behind the front. This led to his appointment as director-general of mili tary railways at the War Office, exercising supervision over transportation in all theatres of war and also being responsible for obtaining the necessary supplies of material and arrang ing the personnel for the services. While at the front he was invited by Sir Douglas Haig to join his staff as director-general of trans port. By arrangement, the unusual course of having a War Office official on the staff and a commander in the field was agreed to, and Geddes, now Major-General Sir Eric Geddes, undertook both duties. Meanwhile, it was de cided to revive the long obsolete office of Con troller of the Navy. On 28 March 1917 it was announced that Geddes had been appointed in spector-general of transportation in all thea tres of war. On 14 May came the official announcement that Sir Eric Geddes was "to become an additional member of the Board of Admiralty, with the title of Controller and with the honorary and temporary rank of vice-ad miral." For the first time in British history the Controller of the Navy was a civilian, who pre sided at the Navy Board, controlled all naval and mercantile construction and repairs, all harbors and ports, guns, airships and muni tions. On 3 June 1917 Geddes was created K.C.B. in the military division. On 18 July 1917, when Sir Edward Carson relinquished his post, Sir Eric Geddes succeeded him as First Lord of the Admiralty. It now became necessary to find him a seat in Parliament. Two days later Mr. Almeric Hugh Paget, Unionist member for Cambridge, resigned his scat in order to pro vide a seat for the new First Lord. Brigadier General A. C. Geddes, a younger brother of Sir Eric, was director of recruiting in 1916, and be came Minister of National Service in Be fore the war he was a professor of anatomy at McGill College, Montreal..