Catalogue Number
NMLH.2024.63.1
Object Name
postcard
Title
'Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Minister. Men of the Moment.'
People
Edward Grey, Liberal Party
Events
First World War
Description
A black and white photograph of Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Minister. He is wearing a suit and tie and looking at the camera. The photograph is imposed over a British Union Jack flag. Beneath the photo is the label 'Men of the Moment'.
Sir Edward Grey (1862-1933) was Foreign Secretary between 1905-1916, as part of the Liberal Party governments of Prime Ministers Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith. Grey was known as a diplomat who created several significant alliances with other nations including Russia and Japan. He was also responsible for creating the alliance with France to protect that country against possible German invasion, a policy which ultimately led to Britain entering the First World War in 1914. Shortly before H.H. Asquith's government collapsed in 1916, Grey signed the Sykes-Picot Agreement which was a secret agreement between the UK and France deciding how to partition the Ottoman Empire, and which parts of it France or Britain would colonise if they defeated the Ottomans in the First World War.
Following his career as Foreign Secretary, Grey was given a peerage and sat in the House of Lords as Lord Grey of Fallodon. He was appointed Ambassador to the USA in 1919, tasked to try and convince the United States to join the League of Nations and ratify the Treaty of Versailles, a peace treaty created after the end of the First World War.
Multimedia
