John Redcliffe-Maud, Baron Redcliffe-Maud
John Primatt Redcliffe Maud, Baron Redcliffe - Maud, GCB, CBE ( born February 3, 1906 in Bristol, † 20 November 1982) was a British civil servant, minister and diplomat.
Political career
John Redcliffe - Maud was educated at Eton and at New College, Oxford. At Oxford he was also a member of the Oxford University Dramatic Society. In 1928, he got a one-year scholarship to Harvard and was 1929-1939 Fellow at University College, Oxford.
During the Second World War was Redcliffe - Maud Master of Birkbeck College at the University of London and was also stationed in Reading Gaol, where he worked for the Ministry of Food. In 1942 he became Commander of the Order of the British Empire. From 1945 to 1952 he worked for the Ministry of Education, rose to 1958 on the Ministerial and finally to the Secretary of Energy. In 1946 he Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath was appointed a Knight Grand Cross in 1955. From 1959 to 1961 he was High Commissioner in the Union of South Africa, and after 1961 Ambassador, when the country left the Commonwealth. 1976 Maud resigned as Master of University College.
In March 1964 Redcliffe - Maud was appointed at the request of local associations of Sir Keith Joseph as head of an academic committee should consider the management of local governments. Three years later, the Maud Committee submitted its report. During this time, Maud was also appointed head of a Royal Commission, which was to reform the local municipalities. In 1969, the Report of the Royal Commission was published, which was commonly known as Redcliffe - Maud Report. The report recommended a comprehensive reform of municipal boundaries and the establishment of larger uniform communities starting from the principle to mix rural and urban areas. The recommendations were accepted by the Labour government of Harold Wilson with a few changes. The opposition from rural areas convinced the Conservatives to vote against the plan, so that nothing was done until the next election in 1970.
1967 John Redcliffe - Maud was appointed with the title of Baron Redcliffe - Maude of the City and County of Bristol for Life Peer. In 1973, he was portrayed by Ruskin Spear, the painting is on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Another portrait of him hangs in the hall of University College, Oxford.
Private
John Redcliffe - Maud was married to the pianist Jean Hamilton. His son, Humphrey Maud, was one of several underage boys with whom the homosexual British composer Benjamin Britten used friendships, a relationship that finally put a stop to his father. The children of John and Jean Maud are dedicatee of Britten's composition The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.
Redcliffe - Maud is on the Holywell Cemetery buried in Oxford. His archive is located in the Library of the London School of Economics. An area of the University College in Oxford was named after him Redcliffe - Maud House.
Writings
- Experiences of an Optimist: The Memoirs of John Redcliffe - Maud. Hamish Hamilton. London 1981. ISBN 0-241-10569-2