Lionel Curtis
Lionel George Curtis CH (1872–1955) was a British internationalist and author. He was the inspiration for the foundation of Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs) as well as the US Council On Foreign Relations at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. He was a leading member of Round Table movement. His writings and influence caused the evolution of the former British nations into the Commonwealth.[1]
Lionel Curtis
7 March,1872
25 November,1955 (aged 83)
Professor, Fellow of All Souls College
A founder of Chatham House and the Round Table
Early life[edit]
Curtis was born in 1872 at The Outwoods, Derby, his mother's family home,[2] and later moved to Coddington, Herefordshire, the youngest of the four children of George James Curtis, Anglican rector of the parish, and his wife Frances Carr, daughter of the Rev. John Edmund Carr.[3][4] He was educated at Haileybury College and then at New College, Oxford, where he read law. He fought in the Second Boer War with the City Imperial Volunteers.
Milner's Kindergarten[edit]
Curtis served as secretary to Lord Milner (a position that had also been held by adventure-novelist John Buchan), during which time he dedicated himself to working for a united self-governing South Africa. He with a group of bright young men there, who would later make their mark in international roles, were called Milner's Kindergarten. Following Milner's death in 1925, Curtis became the second leader of Milner's Kindergarten until his own death in 1955.[5]
The Round Table[edit]
Curtis was an original founding member with Lord Milner of the Round Table Movement.
Curtis was also a founder (1910) the international quarterly The Round Table.
Oxford University[edit]
He was appointed (1912) Beit lecturer in colonial history at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of All Souls College.
The Commonwealth[edit]
Curtis was largely the creator of the idea of Commonwealth as former British territories would transition into self governing nations (originally the British Commonwealth and now expanded as the Commonwealth of Nations)
Other iniatives[edit]
Curtis had earlier advocated British Empire Federalism[9][10] and, late in life, a world state.
His experience led him to conceptualise his early version of a Federal World Government.
His ideas concerning dyarchy were important in the development of the Government of India Act 1919.
He was involved in 1921-1922 the creation of The Irish Free State Treaty.[11]
Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize and made Companion of Honour[edit]
In 1947, Curtis was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize; in 1949, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, on the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of Chatham House.[12][13][14]
Curtis' most important works were: