Edmund Wyldbore-Smith

Sir Edmund Charles Wyldbore-Smith (15 January 1877 – 18 October 1938) was a British civil servant, diplomat, and businessman.

Biography

Smith was the son of Reverend Francis Smith, who was the fourth son of the second Smith-Marriott Baronet.^[1] His grandfather was Sir John Wyldbore Smith.^[2]

In 1901, he married Evadne Maude Kellet; and the couple had two daughters.

Career

In the early 1900s, Wyldbore-Smith served in the Foreign Office beginning his service as Vice-Consul at Tangiers in 1903.^[3] Four years later he was appointed Vice-Consul in Canea (modern Chania), Crete.^[4] In January 1910 he transferred to the Board of Trade where he was employed as Officer-in-Charge of Commercial Enquiries in its recently established Exhibitions Branch; in effect he acted as deputy to the Director of the Branch, Ulick Fitzgerald Wintour.^[5] During the First World War, Smith was Director of the British Executive Staff of the Commission Internationale de Ravitaillement,^[6] which was the international commission for the purchase of supplies for the Allies.^[7]

Wyldbore-Smith resignation from the Civil Service in 1919 opened the way for a career in business. He was appointed chairman of Thomas Cook (both the travel agency and the banking firm), succeeding Frank Cook, who was the grandson of the company's founder.

Wyldbore-Smith served as vice-president of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (International Sleeping-Car Company) and vice-president of the Federation of British Industries. He also served as a director of the Suez Canal Company.

Honours

In 1906, he was elected to the Royal Statistical Society.^[3]

Smith was awarded decorations of seven countries, including:

• Knight Bachelor (United Kingdom)
• Légion d'Honneur (France)
• Order of Leopold (Belgium)
• Order of the Crown of Italy, 1918 (Italy).^[6]
• Order of George I, 1920 (Greece).^[8]
• Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1920 (Japan).^[9]
• Order of the Crown of Romania, 1921.^[10]