Seán Lester (28 September 1888 – 13 June 1959) was an Irish diplomat who was the last

secretary-general Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

from 31 August 1940 to 18 April 1946.

Early life

He was born in County Antrim as John Ernest Lester, the son of a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

grocer Robert Lester and his wife, the former Henrietta Ritchie. Although the town of

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 28,141 at the 2021 census. It is County Antrim's oldest t ...

, where he was born and raised, was strongly Unionist, he joined the

Gaelic League (; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it eme ...

as a youth and was won over to the cause of

Irish nationalism Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cult ...

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, (Obituary) 15 June 1959 As a young man, he joined the

Irish Republican Brotherhood The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...

. He worked as a journalist for the ''North Down Herald'' and a number of other northern papers before he moved to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, where he found a job at the ''Freeman's Journal''. By 1919, he had risen to become its news editor. After the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

, a number of his friends joined the new government of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...

. Lester was offered and accepted the position as director of publicity. He married Elizabeth Ruth Tyrrell in 1920 by whom he had three daughters.

Diplomatic career

In 1923, he joined Ireland's Department of External Affairs. He was sent to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

in 1929 to replace Michael MacWhite as Ireland's Permanent Delegate to the

. In 1930, he succeeded in organising Ireland's election to the Council (or executive body) of the League of Nations for a three year term. Lester often represented Ireland at Council meetings and stood in for the Minister for External Affairs. He became increasingly involved in the work of the League, particularly in its attempts to bring a resolution to two wars in South America. His work brought him to the attention of the League Secretariat and began his transformation from national to international civil servant. When

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and

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

had a dispute over a town in the headwaters of the Amazon, Lester presided over the committee that found an equitable solution. He also presided over the less-successful committee when Bolivia and Paraguay went to war over the Gran Chaco. In 1933, Lester was seconded to the League's Secretariat and sent to Danzig (now

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

), as the League of Nations' High Commissioner from 1934 to 1937. The

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (; ) was a city-state under the protection and oversight of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 other small localities in the surrou ...

was the scene of an emerging international crisis between

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and the international community over the issue of the Polish Corridor and the Free City's relationship with the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. Lester repeatedly protested to the German government over its persecution and discrimination of Jews and warned the League of the looming disaster for Europe. He was boycotted by the representatives of the German Reich and the representatives of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

in Danzig. In August 2010, a room in the Gdansk City Hall, the building that had been Lester's residence during his stay, was renamed by Mayor Paweł Adamowicz as the Seán Lester Room. Derek Scally, ''Irish Times'', 27 August 2010
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League of Nations

Lester returned to Geneva in 1937 to become Deputy Secretary General of the League of Nations. In 1940, he became Secretary General of the body (he became the League's leader a year after the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

which showed that the League had failed its primary purpose). The League had only 100 employees, including guards and janitors, out of the original 700. Lester remained in Geneva throughout the war and kept the League's technical and humanitarian programs in limited operation for the duration of the war. In 1946, he oversaw the League's closure and turned over the League's assets and functions to the newly-established

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Later years

Lester was given the Woodrow Wilson Award in 1945 and a doctorate of the

National University of Ireland The National University of Ireland (NUI) () is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called '' constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under the Irish Universities Act 1908, and signifi ...

in 1948. Despite rumours that he would be prepared to stand for election as

President of Ireland The president of Ireland () is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The presidency is a predominantly figurehead, ceremonial institution, serving as ...

, Lester sought no permanent office and retired to Recess, County Galway, in the west of Ireland, where he died in 1959. In its obituary, ''

'' described Lester as an "international conciliator and courageous friend of refugees". His granddaughter Susan Denham was

Chief Justice of Ireland The chief justice of Ireland () is the president of the Supreme Court of Ireland. The chief justice is the highest judicial office and the most senior judge in the Republic of Ireland. The role includes several constitutional and administrativ ...

for the

Supreme Court of Ireland The Supreme Court of Ireland () is the highest judicial authority in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is a court of final appeal and exercises, in conjunction with the Court of Appeal (Ireland), Court of Appeal and the High Court (Ireland), Hig ...

from 2011 to 2017.

References

Biographies

*Stephen Ashworth Barcroft: ''The international civil servant: the League of Nations career of Sean Lester, 1929–1947''; Dublin 1973 * Douglas Gageby: ''The last secretary general: Sean Lester and the League of Nations''; Dublin 1999; *Arthur W. Rovine: ''The first fifty years: the secretary-general in world politics 1920–1970''; Leyden 1970; *Michael Kennedy: ''Ireland and the League of Nations 1919–1946: politics, diplomacy and international relations''; Dublin 1996 *Paul McNamara: ''Sean Lester, Poland and the Nazi Takeover of Danzig''; Irish Academic Press Ltd 2008;

External links

Biography

biographical article from the producers of an Irish documentary on Lester.
League of Nations Archives, with a short biographyLeague of Nations Archives, Private Archives of Sean LesterDocuments on Irish Foreign Policy website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lester, Sean 1888 births 1959 deaths Irish diplomats Irish Protestants Secretaries general of the League of Nations People from Carrickfergus People educated at Methodist College Belfast High commissioners of the League of Nations at Danzig Permanent representatives of Ireland to the League of Nations