Sir Alexander Frederick Whyte (30 September 1883 – 30 July 1970) was a British civil servant,

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politician, writer, and journalist. From 1920 to 1925 he served as the first President of the new

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Biography

Alexander Frederick Whyte was born on 30 September 1883, the second of eight children, and eldest son born to the Reverend

Alexander Whyte ''For the British colonial administrator, see Alexander Frederick Whyte'' Rev Alexander Whyte D.D.,LL.D. (13 January 18366 January 1921) was a Scottish divine. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland in 1898. L ...

DD, and Jane Elizabeth Barbour, who married in 1881. Whyte attended

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is an independent day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in the city's New Town, is now part of the Senior School. The Junior School is located on Arboretum Roa ...

and read modern languages at

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and at

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, graduating with a first class degree. During this time he was President of Edinburgh University Union, and after graduation was warden of the

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in 1907–8. He entered

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as the

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(MP) for

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(1910–1918), during which time he had been

parliamentary private secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

(1910–1915) to Winston Churchill, who was

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(1910–1911), and then

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(1911–15) at the time. During the

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, Whyte was a lieutenant in the

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on special service (1914–17). He was appointed the first President of the

in India (1920–25). He then took on ambassadorial roles; as political advisor to the National Government of China (1929–32), Director General of the

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(1938), and Head of the American division of the Ministry of Information (1939–40). He was also involved in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

, as the founder and editor of ''The New Europe'' (1917–1920), a well-known weekly read by political leaders and students, and was the author of numerous books discussing the politics and economics of the Orient. Aside from these political roles, Sir Frederick was Chairman of the Indian Red Cross Society (1923) and Reindeer Council of the United Kingdom, as well as being a member of the Athenaeum Club, founded in

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in the late 18th century for the exchange of ideas.Who's Who Sir Alexander Frederick was knighted in 1922, and in 1925 a Knight Commander of the

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was conferred in

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. Though gazetted on 3 June 1925 as Sir Alexander Whyte, he may have adopted the use of his middle name to avoid confusion with an Alexander Whyte (1834-1908) employed as a government botanist under the British administration in Nyasaland (now Malawi), where he established Zomba Botanic Garden between 1891 and 1895. It is unclear what involvement in public life Sir Frederick played following 1940. He was no longer at the Ministry of Information, but there is reference to him as Chairman of the recently founded Reindeer Council of the United Kingdom in the ''Nature'' of November 1949, following proposals to introduce reindeer to Britain. Further correspondence suggests that as late as 1958, Sir Frederick still had some association with the Indian Red Cross and St. John Ambulance Association and Brigade. A passenger list of that year reveals that Sir Alexander and Lady Fairweather Whyte set sail from

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to England by first class, and Sir Alexander is described as a director. In 1927, Sir Frederick sat for the photographer Walter Stoneman (1876–1958), and the

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print along with two negatives remain part of the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.

Family

Alexander Frederick married Margaret Emily Fairweather, the eldest daughter of the Reverend W. Fairweather DD of

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, in 1912, with whom he had three children: *Joan Elizabeth Fairweather *Anne Mortimer *Alexander Hamilton
/ref> Sir

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(1881–1957), a fellow member of the Indian Civil Service, was Sir Frederick Whyte's brother-in-law on account of Sir Ernest's second marriage, to Mary Isabella, daughter of Rev W. Fairweather, in 1922.

Publications

*''India, a federation?'' (Government of India Press, 1926) *''China and foreign powers'' (H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1927) *''China and foreign powers'' (Oxford University Press, 1928) *''The unfinished task'' (Houghton Mifflin company, 1933) *''A British view of Pacific affairs in 1936'' (Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1936) *''World Outlook'' (1939) *''India, a bird's eye view'' (The Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1942) *''India'' (The Royal Institute of International affairs, Oxford University Press, 1942) *''Japan's purpose in Asia and the Pacific'' (The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Oxford University Press, 1942) *''India'' (The Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1944) *''The rise and fall of Japan'' (The Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1945) *''The Pattern of Pacific Security'' A Report by a

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Study Group (Norman Bentwich, G E Hubbard ''et al.''. A Chatham House Study Group, 1946)

References

Sources

*'' Who’s Who'' (1927)

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*''

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'', 28 June 1926.

External links