Liberal Foreign Secretary who chaired the London ambassadors' conference on the Balkan Wars and took Britain into the First World War
Elected Liberal member for Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1885, at 23 the youngest MP, he was Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs from 1892. As Foreign Secretary from 1905 to 1916, the longest continuous tenure in that office, he concluded the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, backed France in the Moroccan crises and chaired the London ambassadors' conference of 1912–1913 at St James's Palace. In the July Crisis of 1914 he convinced the Liberal cabinet that Britain was honour-bound to defend France and led it into the war, remarking on 3 August that "the lamps are going out all over Europe". He signed the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916 and was made a viscount, moving to the Lords. He became president of the League of Nations Union in 1918 and ambassador to the United States in 1919–1920, and died at Fallodon in 1933.
Also known as: Sir Edward Grey · Viscount Grey of Fallodon · Lord Grey of Fallodon
Activities and affiliations
- 1905–1916 Government and administration · United Kingdom state institutions
- 1885–1916 Legislature and state representation · United Kingdom state institutions
- 1885–1933 Political and party leadership · Liberal Party (UK)
- 1919–1920 Diplomacy and international organization · United Kingdom state institutions
Career Timeline
- 1885Liberal MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed
- 1892–1895Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
- 1905–1916British Foreign Secretary
- 1912–1913Chairman of the London ambassadors' conference
- 1916Created Viscount Grey of Fallodon; entered the Lords
- 1919–1920British Ambassador to the United States
- 1923–1924Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords