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| | ==Life & Career== | | ==Life & Career== |
| − | William Graham Greene was born at Takeley, Essex, 16 January 1857, the eldest son of William Greene who later resided at East Lodge, Bedford, and his wife, Charlotte, daughter of William Smith, of Wrawby, Lincolnshire. He was educated at Cheltenham College and in Germany. Between 1875 and 1879 he worked for some time in a brewery at Bury St. Edmunds which belonged to his family, and then trained in engineering at Bedford; but having given this up through ill health, he studied for the Civil Service examination for the higher division, and in July, 1879 was appointed assistant surveyor of taxes under the Board of Inland Revenue. From the outset his wish was for work at the Admiralty and in June, 1881 he was transferred to the department of the [[Accountant-General of the Navy]] and in April, 1884 moved to the [[Admiralty Secretariat]] as a Junior Clerk. Here he was soon selected for special duty in the military, political, and secret branch and was chosen to be secretary of the [[Foreign Intelligence Committee]] (the forerunner of the [[Naval Intelligence Department (Royal Navy)|Naval Intelligence Department]]). In January, 1887 Lord George Hamilton appointed him his Assistant Private Secretary. This post he retained for fifteen years under successive First Lords, Hamilton, Spencer, Goschen, and Selborne. | + | William Graham Greene was born in 1857, and was educated at Cheltenham College. He entered the service of the Admiralty as a Higher Division Clerk in 1881, and from 1887 to 1892 served as Assistant Private Secretary to successive [[First Lord of the Admiralty|First Lords of the Admiralty]]. He became a Principal Clerk in 1902, and in 1907 he succeeded [[Charles Inigo Thomas|C. Inigo Thomas]] as Assistant Secretary. In 1911 he succeeded Thomas again and became [[Permanent Secretary to the Board of Admiralty]]. He was knighted and made a Knight Commander in the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (K.C.B). |
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| − | From very early days the title of Private Secretary was held by the succession of distinguished seamen who advised the First Lord on the appointment to ships and commands of those ranks in the Service which were in the absolute control of the minister. As Assistant Private Secretary and head of the First Lord's private office, Greene gradually built up a position which was unique in the public service. On behalf of the First Lord and subject to his approval he controlled the nomination and entry of naval cadets and assistant clerks (the junior rank of the paymaster branch); the arrangements for all ceremonial functions such as official dinners and receptions and visits of the Board of Admiralty to the naval ports, and the voyages of the Admiralty yacht; the presentation of officers and Admiralty civilians at levées (court functions), correspondence with the court on matters requiring the Sovereign's approval, submissions to the Sovereign for sanction to chief appointments and commands and to the award of decorations and orders. He also advised the First Lord on all official business which did not require the professional view of the Naval Private Secretary.
| + | Having been removed as Secretary, Churchill invited Greene to become Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Munitions, where he remained until 1920, when he retired. He was unmarried. |
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| − | In 1899 Greene was appointed C.B. and in December, 1902 was promoted Principal Clerk and placed in charge of the personnel branch of the secretariat and thus was mainly responsible for carrying into effect the scheme of educational reform promoted by [[John Arbuthnot Fisher, First Baron Fisher|Sir John (later Lord) Fisher]] and promulgated by Lord Selborne at Christmas in that year. In 1907 he became Assistant Secretary of the Admiralty and in 1911 was promoted K.C.B. and appointed Permanent Secretary. On the outbreak of war in 1914 (Sir) Winston Churchill made him one of the inner council at which all important matters were settled. He enjoyed the complete confidence of Churchill's successors, Balfour and Carson. In July, 1917, when Sir Edward (later Lord) Carson was replaced by Sir Eric Geddes, Lloyd George, who had never seen Greene, insisted upon his immediate retirement. Churchill, however, who at the same time became Minister of Munitions, welcomed the opportunity of securing his services as secretary of the Ministry, an office which he held until the Ministry was disbanded after the end of the war. Carson related afterwards: "I met Churchill in the prime minister's room and congratulated him on his knowledge of men. 'What do you mean?', said Lloyd George. “Well”, I said, 'Winston has the wisdom to choose for a much bigger job the man whom you dismissed from the Admiralty'."<ref>Greene. ''A Sort of Life''. p. 21.</ref>
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| − | In 1920 Greene began work not requiring continuous attendance in London, which he continued for twenty years, on a number of sub-committees of the Committee of Imperial Defence, dealing with statistics and such subjects as the history of the Ministry of Munitions, and the use of national manpower. In retirement he lived mainly at his home at Harston near Cambridge and soon became fully engaged in local activities. He was a Justice of the Peace of London and Cambridgeshire and of the latter also County Councillor and, in 1942, Alderman. He was until 1948 treasurer of the Navy Records Society which he had helped to found in 1893. He was a commander of the Legion of Honour and the Order of Leopold of Belgium, and had the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, First Class.
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| − | Greene was an active man all his life, fond of hunting and shooting in younger days, and a keen gardener at his country home until the end. He was one of the ablest civil servants of his generation. Although of slight physique he was a tireless worker with a single-minded devotion to his official duty, part of which he conceived to be the maintenance of the authority of the minister at the head of the department in which he served. His portrait by R. E. Fuller-Maitland, subscribed for by his official associates, was presented by Balfour and forms part of the collection of secretaries of the Admiralty in Admiralty House. He died, unmarried, at Harston on 10 September, 1950.
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| | ==Footnotes== | | ==Footnotes== |
SIR William Graham Greene, K.C.B. (16 January, 1857 – 10 September, 1950) was a civil servant chiefly remembered for his years of service to the Royal Navy and tenure as Permanent Secretary to the Board of Admiralty.
Life & Career
William Graham Greene was born in 1857, and was educated at Cheltenham College. He entered the service of the Admiralty as a Higher Division Clerk in 1881, and from 1887 to 1892 served as Assistant Private Secretary to successive First Lords of the Admiralty. He became a Principal Clerk in 1902, and in 1907 he succeeded C. Inigo Thomas as Assistant Secretary. In 1911 he succeeded Thomas again and became Permanent Secretary to the Board of Admiralty. He was knighted and made a Knight Commander in the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (K.C.B).
Having been removed as Secretary, Churchill invited Greene to become Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Munitions, where he remained until 1920, when he retired. He was unmarried.
Bibliography
- "Sir Graham Greene" (Obituaries). The Times. Monday, 11 September, 1950. Issue 51793, col D, pg. 6.
- Greene, Graham (1971). A Sort of Life. London: The Bodley Head. ISBN 0370003276.
Papers
