Sir John Gerald Lang, GCB (20 December 1896 – 22 September 1984), was a British civil servant who held the position of

Permanent Secretary of the Admiralty The Permanent Secretary of the Admiralty was the permanent secretary at the Admiralty, the department of state in Great Britain and subsequently the United Kingdom responsible for the administration of the Royal Navy. He was head of the Admiralty ...

from 1947 to 1961.''The Times'', Obituary of Sir John Gerald Lang (26 September 1984).

Family and education

Lang was born in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

, to George Thompson Lang, an engineering toolmaker, and his wife Rebecca Davies.''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Lang, Sir John Gerald
Retrieved 10 March 2021. He was educated at Haberdashers’ Aske's School in

Hatcham Hatcham was a manor and later a chapelry in what is now London, England. It largely corresponds to the area around New Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham. The ancient parish of Deptford straddled the counties of Surrey and Kent and ther ...

, London. In 1922 he married Emilie Jane Goddard (daughter of Henry Shelley Goddard), with whom he had one daughter. Emilie died in 1963, and in 1970 he married her sister, Kathleen Winifred Edmeades, the widow of Cecil George Elliott Edmeades.

Career

Lang entered the British

Civil Service 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 ...

in 1914, joining the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he served with the

Royal Marine Artillery The history of the Royal Marines began on 28 October 1664 with the formation of the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot soon becoming known as the Admiral's Regiment. During the War of the Spanish Succession the most historic achi ...

before returning to the Civil Service. Appointed an assistant secretary in 1939, he was its Director of Labour during the

Second World War 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 ...

, responsible for the recruitment, organisation and deployment of dockyard and shipyard labour. As under-secretary from 1946, he contributed to the reorganisation of naval manpower to a peacetime level. When the

, Sir Henry Vaughan Markham, died prematurely in December 1946, Lang was chosen as his successor. He was a highly regarded permanent secretary, and served from 1947 until his retirement in 1961. During this time he was also a

Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requi ...

Retirement

During retirement Lang served as vice-president of both the Royal Naval Association and the

Royal Institution of Naval Architects The Royal Institution of Naval Architects (also known as RINA) is a professional institution and global governing body for naval architecture and maritime engineering. Members work in industry, academia, and maritime organisations worldwide, par ...

. He was President of the

Samuel Pepys Club The Samuel Pepys Club is a London club founded in 1903 to do honour to the memory of Samuel Pepys (1633–1703), the English naval administrator and Member of Parliament now best known as a diarist. Origin On 26 May 1903, at the Garrick Club in ...

and a member of the

Navy Records Society The Navy Records Society was established in 1893 as a scholarly text publication society to publish historical documents relating to the history of the Royal Navy. Professor Sir John Knox Laughton and Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge were the key lea ...

and the

Worshipful Company of Shipwrights The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights is one of the ancient livery companies of the City of London. Although the Shipwrights' Company is no longer a shipbuilding trade association representing solely London-based industry, through its membersh ...

. In 1969, during his time as the Government's principal adviser on sport (1964–1971) and Deputy Chairman of the

Sports Council Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded partners, ...

, he chaired a working group that produced a report on crowd control at football matches.

Ministry of Housing and Local Government The Ministry of Housing and Local Government was a United Kingdom government department formed following the Second World War, covering the areas of housing and local government. It was formed, as the Ministry of Local Government and Planning, ...

, ''Report of the Working Party on Crowd Behaviour at Football Matches (Chairman John Lang)'', Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (1969). Lang was also a governor and officer of

Bethlem Royal Hospital Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital and Bedlam, is a psychiatric hospital in Bromley, London. Its famous history has inspired several horror books, films, and television series, most notably ''Bedlam (194 ...

and

Maudsley Hospital The Maudsley Hospital is a British psychiatric hospital in south London. The Maudsley is the largest mental health training institution in the UK. It is part of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and works in partnership with the I ...

(1961–1970) and, in his eighties, an adviser to

Help the Aged Help the Aged was a United Kingdom based international charity founded in 1961 by Cecil Jackson-Cole and Hugh Faulkner to help disadvantaged older people who were affected by poverty, isolation and neglect. It merged with Age Concern in 2009 to f ...

. He died at

Tadworth Tadworth is a large suburban village in Surrey, England in the south-east of the Epsom Downs, part of the North Downs. It forms part of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. At the 2021 census, Tadworth (and Walton-on-the-Hill) had a population ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, at the age of 87.

Honours

Lang was made a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

(CB) in

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

, A Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lang, John 1896 births 1984 deaths Permanent Secretaries to the Admiralty Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Lords of the Admiralty Military personnel from the Royal Borough of Greenwich Royal Marines personnel of World War I Royal Marines ranks People from Woolwich