Alfred Eckhard Zimmern
Sir Alfred Eckhard Zimmern (26 January, 1879–24 November, 1957) was an English classical scholar, historian, and political scientist writing on international relations. His book "The Third British Empire" was among the first to apply the expression "British Commonwealth" to the British Empire. He was a prominent liberal internationalist. He was also credited with coining the phrase "welfare state", which was made popular a few years later by William Temple. Early life and background. Zimmern was born on 26 January 1879 in Surbiton, Surrey, UK. His mother was Mathilde Eckhard. His father, Adolphus Hermann Christian Anton Zimmern, was  a naturalised British citizen, born in Germany. Adolphus Zimmern was also the patriarch of a prominent Eurasian family in Hong Kong. Judge Archie Zimmern and former Hong Kong Stock Exchange chairman Francis Zimmern were both his nephews. The writers, translators and suffragettes Helen Zimmern and Alice Zimmern were his cousins. Alfred was brought up a Christian and later an active participant in the World Council of Churches. Later in life he became a supporter of Zionism. He was educated at Winchester College, and read classics at New College, Oxford, where he won the Stanhope essay prize in 1902. At Berlin  University, he came under the influence of Wilamowitz and Meyer. Academic career. Zimmern was educated at New College, Oxford; he obtained a First in Classical Moderations in 1900, followed by a First in Literae Humaniores ('Greats', a combination of philosophy and ancient history) in 1902. He was appointed Lecturer in Ancient History, New College, Oxford (1903), and Fellow and tutor, New College (1904–1909). Later he was a staff inspector at the Board of Education (1912–1915) and a member of the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office (1918–1919). He then became Wilson Professor of International Politics, and thus the first  Professor of International Politics (also known as International Relations) in the world, at the University College of Wales (1919–1921). Having left Aberystwyth, he taught at Cornell University in 1922 and 1923. He was the inaugural Montague Burton Professor of International Relations, Oxford University (1930–1944), and co-founder of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (1919). He was for a short time a member of the Round Table Group (1913–1923) and later provided the insider source of information for Georgetown University professor Carroll Quigley. Internationalism. Zimmern has been classified as a utopian and idealist thinker on international relations. He is cited  often, in this perspective, in E. H. Carr's "The Twenty Years' Crisis" (1939); Carr and Zimmern are characterised as being "at opposite ends of the theoretical and political spectrum". Zimmern contributed to the founding of the League of Nations Society and of UNESCO. He was Deputy Director of the Institute for Intellectual Co-operation, in Paris, in the mid-1920s; after tension with the Director, the French historian Julien Luchaire, both left. He was nominated in 1947 for the Nobel Peace Prize, in connection with his UNESCO work. Zimmern joined the British Labour Party in 1924, and was Labour candidate  for Carnarvon Boroughs against David Lloyd George in the general election of 1924. A close friend of Ramsay MacDonald, Zimmern followed him in 1931 when MacDonald formed the National Government. He became an active member of the National Labour Organisation and frequently wrote articles for its journal, the "News-Letter". Zimmern was one of five writers who contributed to a book "Towards a National Policy: Being a National Labour Contribution" in April 1935. Zimmern died in Avon, Connecticut, on 24 November 1957.