Maud, John Primatt Redcliffe Redcliffe-, 1906-1982

Maud, John Primatt Redcliffe was born in Bristol in 1906. He was educated at Summer Fields School in Oxford, Eton College and New College Oxford. In 1929 he became Junior Research Fellow at University College Oxford. In 1932 he married (Margaret) Jean Hamilton (1904-1993) and undertook a Rhodes Travelling Fellowship to Johannesburg where he wrote a history of local government. Between 1932 and 1939 he also served as Fellow and Dean at Oxford University, lectured in politics and tutored the Colonial Administrative Services Course. With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 Maud was summoned into public service and took up a post in Reading Jail. Although he continued to fulfil his duties as Master of Birkbeck College from 1939 until 1943, he rose quickly in the ranks of the civil service. From Principal Private Secretary Ministry of Food in 1940 to Deputy Secretary (later Second Secretary) Ministry of Food 1941-1944, Second Secretary to the Office of the Minister of Reconstruction 1944-1945 and Secretary to the Office of the Lord President of the Council 1945. In the immediate post-war years he assumed the posts of Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, 1945 (-1952); Member, Economic Planning Board, 1952 (-1958); Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Fuel and Power, 1952 (-1959). In this period he was also one of the founding fathers of UNESCO. In 1959 he accepted the roles of British High Commissioner in South Africa (-1961), High Commissioner for Basutoland, Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland (-1963) and in 1961 became the first British Ambassador to the new South African republic (-1963). He returned to Oxford in 1963 as the Master of University College, (-1976). But he also undertook enquiries into local government. Between 1964 and 1967 he Chaired the Committee on the Management of Local Government and worked closely with the Committee on Staffing Local Government, Chaired by Sir (Howard) George Mallaby. This was followed with his Chairmanship of the Royal Commission on Local Government, 1966-1969. In 1967 he was awarded a Baronetcy and assumed the title, Baron Redcliffe-Maud. During these years he also undertook the roles of High Bailiff of Westminster, 1967 and Chairman, Prime Minister's Committee on Local Government Rules of Conduct, 1973-1974. From 1974 to 1976, with the support of the Calouste-Gulbenkian Foundation, he conducted an enquiry into funding for the arts in England and Wales. Throughout his life Redcliffe-Maud was an accomplished public speaker and made numerous speeches and broadcasts. Among his publications are: Local Government in modern England , (Thornton Butterworth, London, 1932). City Government: The Johannesburg Experiment , (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1938). Johannesburg and the Art of Self-Government , (R Esson and Co, Johannesburg, 1937). Expanding horizons in a contracting world: the challenge to education , (University of Natal, Durban, 1960). Aid for developing countries , (Athlone Press, London, 1964). Leadership and democracy , Foundation Orations 1966, University of London, Birkbeck College, (London 1966). The future of the individual , Bellman Memorial Lectures (London, 1968). English Local Government Reformed , (Oxford University Press, London, 1974). Support for the arts in England and Wales : a report to the Colouste Gulbenkian Foundation (London, 1976). Experiences of an Optimist , (Hamish Hamilton, London, 1981). Redcliffe-Maud retired in 1976 but remained active as the President of Royal Institute of Public Administration, 1969-1979, and the British Diabetic Association, 1977-1982. He died in 1982.