Sir Arthur Charles Walter Drew, KCB, JP (2 September 1912 – 15 October 1993) was an English

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

. He was born in Mexico, the son of Arthur Drew of

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

and Louise Schulte-Ummingen. He was educated at

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter, located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. T ...

and studied at

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

."Sir Arthur Drew", ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' (London), 20 October 1993, p. 21. . Drew entered the civil service in 1936 as an official in the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

. Rapid promotion during rearmament and the war preceded his appointment as private secretary to the secretary of state in 1945. From 1951 to 1954, he was seconded to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

and then became director of finance at the War Office in 1955. Promoted to deputy secretary two years later, he was appointed to that grade in the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

in 1961. From 1963 to 1964, he was the last

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

of the War Office. With its amalgamation into the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

in 1964, he was appointed the Second Permanent Secretary there, initially with responsibility for the Army and later for administration. He retired in 1972. He was chairman of the

Museums and Galleries Commission The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) was until May 2012 a non-departmental public body and a registered charity in England with a remit to promote improvement and innovation in the area of museums, libraries, and archives. Its funct ...

from 1978 to 1984 and was also a warden of the Drapers' Company and the chairman of the Ancient Monuments Board of England. His wife Rachel was the daughter of Guy William Lambert, CB, a senior official in the War Office.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drew, Arthur 1912 births 1993 deaths People educated at Christ's Hospital Alumni of King's College, Cambridge English civil servants English justices of the peace Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath