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, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) 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 that ...

from 31 August 1940 to 18 April 1946.

Early life

He was born in County Antrim, the son of a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

grocer. 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 27,998 at the 2011 Census. It is County Antrim's oldest ...

, 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 emer ...

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 c ...

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

, (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 (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, where he found a job at the ''Freeman's Journal''. By 1919, he had risen to its news editor. After the Irish War of Independence, a number of his friends joined the new government of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...

. 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 , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

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 years. 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

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

and Colombia 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 Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who is the ninth winner of the Ame ...

and sent to Danzig (now Gdańsk,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

), as the League of Nations' High Commissioner from 1934 to 1937. The Free City of Danzig was the scene of an emerging international crisis between

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and the international community over the issue of the

Polish Corridor The Polish Corridor (german: Polnischer Korridor; pl, Pomorze, Polski Korytarz), also known as the Danzig Corridor, Corridor to the Sea or Gdańsk Corridor, was a territory located in the region of Pomerelia (Pomeranian Voivodeship, easter ...

and the Free City's relationship with the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. 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 (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

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 Pawel 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, but the League now had only 100 employees, including guards and janitors, 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 an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

Later years

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

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Ireland and the supreme commander of the Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms.Constitu ...

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

'' described Lester as an "international conciliator and courageous friend of refugees". He was given the

Woodrow Wilson Award Woodrow Wilson Awards are given out in multiple countries each year by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution to individuals in both the public sphere and business who have shown an outstanding commitm ...

in 1945 and a doctorate of the National University of Ireland in 1948. His granddaughter Susan Denham was

Chief Justice of Ireland The Chief Justice of Ireland ( ga, Príomh-Bhreitheamh na hÉireann) is the president of the Supreme Court of Ireland. The chief justice is the highest judicial office and most senior judge in Ireland. The role includes constitutional and admini ...

for the Supreme Court of Ireland 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 1880s births 1959 deaths Irish diplomats Irish Protestants Secretaries General of the League of Nations People from Carrickfergus People educated at Methodist College Belfast