Anthony Eden

**Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon** <small>KG MC PC</small> (12 June 1897–14 January 1977) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was better known throughout his time in office as **Sir Anthony Eden**. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford.

Eden was one of the best-known politicians of his generation. He was appointed Foreign Secretary in 1935 by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, and resigned in 1938 in protest at Chamberlain's appeasement of Adolf Hitler. He was Churchill's Foreign Secretary during World War II, and again in 19511955.

He had an operation to remove gallstones in 1953. The operation went wrong, and his health was ruined. He became Prime Minister in 1955 when Winston Churchill retired. He resigned as Prime Minister in 1957, and Harold Macmillan replaced him. The Suez Crisis of 1956 was a critical period. This and his health led up to his resignation as Prime Minister. Eden died of liver cancer, aged 79. His widow, Clarissa Eden, Countess of Avon, was born in 1920 and died in 2021. She was a niece of Winston Churchill.

Eden's life can be described in two halves. The first half, in the 1930s and in wartime, was brilliant. But he is often ranked among the least successful British Prime Ministers of the 20th century. Two broadly sympathetic biographies (in 1986 and 2003) have gone some way to redressing the balance of opinion. D.R. Thorpe says the Suez Crisis "was a truly tragic end to his premiership, and one that came to assume a disproportionate importance in any assessment of his career".

## Biography

Born into an aristocratic family.

He volunteered for the British army at the beginning of the First World War, participated in the fighting in France.

In 1919—1922 he was a student at the Faculty of Oriental Languages at Oxford, graduating with honors.

From 1945 to 1973 he served as rector of the University of Birmingham.

In 1961, he received the title of count.

Eden had three sons. The elder and middle sons died before him. His Earl of Avon title was inherited by the younger son, Nicholas. When Nicholas died, the title became extinct.

## Political career

Member of the House of Commons from 1923 to 1957.

From 1935 to 1938 (Baldwin's cabinet) Minister of Foreign Affairs. He resigned as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chamberlain's cabinet on February 20, 1938, due to disagreement with the Prime Minister's policy of "appeasement" towards Italy and Germany.

He served as Foreign Minister in Churchill's military government (1940—1945), was considered Churchill's successor, but distinguished himself primarily as Foreign Minister in the war. Leader of the House of Commons from 1942 to 1945.

After Labor's election victory in July 1945, he was Deputy Leader of the Opposition.

From 1951 to 1955 Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister.

After Churchill's resignation in 1955, he was appointed prime minister. His premiership turned out to be short-lived and unsuccessful, both from a foreign policy point of view (the Suez crisis of 1956, which ended catastrophically for Great Britain), and from a domestic political point of view (he had to resign after mass protests by the population and cede leadership in the party to Macmillan).

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **embed**: yes
- **order4**: Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
- **term start4**: 28 October 1951
- **term end4**: 6 April 1955
- **primeminister4**: Winston Churchill, Sir Winston Churchill
- **predecessor4**: Herbert Morrison
- **successor4**: Harold Macmillan
- **term start5**: 22 December 1940
- **term end5**: 26 July 1945
- **primeminister5**: Winston Churchill
- **predecessor5**: Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, The Viscount Halifax
- **successor5**: Ernest Bevin
- **term start6**: 22 December 1935
- **term end6**: 20 February 1938
- **predecessor6**: Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood, Sir Samuel Hoare
- **successor6**: The Viscount Halifax
- **order7**: Leader of the House of Commons
- **term start7**: 22 November 1942
- **term end7**: 26 July 1945
- **primeminister7**: Winston Churchill
- **predecessor7**: Stafford Cripps, Sir Stafford Cripps
- **successor7**: Herbert Morrison
- **order8**: Secretary of State for War
- **term start8**: 11 May 1940
- **term end8**: 22 December 1940
- **primeminister8**: Winston Churchill
- **predecessor8**: Oliver Stanley
- **successor8**: David Margesson, 1st Viscount Margesson, David Margesson
- **order9**: Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs
- **term start9**: 3 September 1939
- **term end9**: 14 May 1940
- **predecessor9**: Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote, Sir Thomas Inskip
- **successor9**: Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote, The Viscount Caldecote
- **order10**: Lord Privy Seal, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
- **term start10**: 31 December 1933
- **term end10**: 7 June 1935
- **primeminister10**: Ramsay MacDonald
- **predecessor10**: Stanley Baldwin
- **successor10**: Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry, The Marquess of Londonderry
- **order11**: Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
- **term start11**: 3 September 1931
- **term end11**: 18 January 1934
- **primeminister11**: Ramsay MacDonald
- **predecessor11**: Hugh Dalton
- **successor11**: James Stanhope, 7th Earl Stanhope, The Earl Stanhope


## Infobox (officeholder)

- **embed**: yes
- **office12**: Members of the House of Lords, Member of the House of Lords
Lords Temporal, Lord Temporal
- **term start12**: 12 July 1961
- **term end12**: 14 January 1977
Hereditary Peerage
- **predecessor12**: _Earl of Avon, Earldom created_
- **successor12**: Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon, The 2nd Earl of Avon
- **office13**: Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament
for Warwick and Leamington (UK Parliament constituency), Warwick and Leamington
- **predecessor13**: Ernest Pollock, 1st Viscount Hanworth, Ernest Pollock
- **successor13**: John Hobson (politician), John Hobson
- **term start13**: 6 December 1923
- **term end13**: 10 January 1957


## Infobox (officeholder)

- **honorific-prefix**: The Right Honourable
- **name**: The Earl of Sussex
- **image**: Anthony Eden (retouched).jpg
- **caption**: Photograph, 1941–1942
- **order**: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- **term start**: 6 April 1955
- **term end**: 9 January 1957
- **monarch**: Elizabeth II
- **predecessor**: Winston Churchill, Sir Winston Churchill
- **successor**: Harold Macmillan
- **order2**: Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- **term start2**: 26 October 1951
- **term end2**: 6 April 1955
- **primeminister2**: Winston Churchill, Sir Winston Churchill
- **predecessor2**: Herbert Morrison
- **successor2**: Rab Butler (1962)
- **order3**: Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party
- **term start3**: 6 April 1955
- **term end3**: 10 January 1957
- **predecessor3**: Winston Churchill, Sir Winston Churchill
- **successor3**: Harold Macmillan
- **birth name**: Robert Anthony Eden
- **birth place**: Windlestone Hall, Windlestone Hall, County Durham, England
- **death place**: Alvediston, Alvediston, Wiltshire, England
- **party**: Labour(UK), Conservative
- **education**: Eton College
- **alma mater**: Christ Church, Oxford
- **children**: 3, including Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon, Nicholas
- **rank**: Major (United Kingdom), Major
- **battles**: * History of the United Kingdom during the First World War, First World War
** Battle of the Somme
** Battle of Messines (1917), Battle of Messines
** Battle of Passchendaele
** Operation Michael
** Hundred Days Offensive
- **mawards**: Military Cross
- **footnotes**: n.b.