Robert
Cecil, the third son of the Marquis
of Salisbury,
was born on 14th September, 1864. Educated at Eton
and Oxford University, he was called to
the Bar in 1887.
A member of the Conservative Party,
he was elected to the House of Commons
in 1906. On the left of the party, Cecil was one of the few Conservatives
who supported women's suffrage.
On
the outbreak of the First World War Cecil went
to work for the Red Cross. He was recalled
in 1915 to serve in the government as under secretary for foreign
affairs. The following year he was given responsibility for devising
procedures to bring economic and commercial pressure against the enemy.
In 1918 David
Lloyd George appointed
him as assistant secretary of state for foreign affairs.
Cecil's
experiences during the war convinced him that civilization could survive
only if it could develop an international system that would insure
peace. In September 1916 he wrote a memorandum that advocated the
formation of an international body that he called the League of Nations.
When
peace negotiations began in October, 1918, Woodrow
Wilson insisted that his Fourteen Points
should serve as a basis for the signing of the Armistice.
This included the formation of the League
of Nations. Cecil was appointed as the British representative
in charge of negotiations for this new organization.
The
constitution of the League of Nations was adopted by the Paris
Peace Conference in April, 1919. The League's headquarters were
in Geneva and its first secretary-general was Sir Eric
Drummond.
The Covenant (Constitution) of the League of Nations called for collective
security and the peaceful settlement of disputes by arbitration. It
was decided that any country that resorted to war would be subjected
to economic sanctions.
The
main organs of the League of Nations were the General Assembly, the
Council and the Secretariat. The General Assembly, which met once
a year, consisted of representatives of all the member states and
decided on the organization's policy. The Council included four permanent
members (Britain, France, Italy and Japan) and four (later nine) others
elected by the General Assembly every three years. The Secretariat
prepared the agenda and published reports of meetings.
Cecil
represented the Dominion of South Africa in the League Assembly. He
was also president of the British League of Nations Union (1923-1945)
and a leader of the International Peace Campaign.
In
1923 Cecil was granted the title Viscount of Chelwood. As a member
of the House of Lords he remained in the
government as Lord Privy Seal (1923-1924) and Chancellor of the Duchy
of Lancaster (1924-1927). However he resigned from the government
in 1927 because of its lack of support for the League
of Nations.
Cecil,
who was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize
in 1937, wrote several books on international affairs including The
Way of Peace (1928) and the Great
Experiment (1941). He was present at the final meeting
of the League of Nations and ended his speech with the words: "The
League is dead, long live the United Nations."
Cecil's
autobiography, All the Way, was
published in 1949. He remained active in the House
of Lords until his death on 24th November, 1958.
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