Sir Amherst Selby-Bigge, 1st Baronet

Sir Lewis Amherst Selby-Bigge, 1st Baronet KCB JP (3 April 1860 – 24 May 1951) was a British civil servant, barrister, and scholar who was Permanent Secretary at the Board of Education between 1911–1925.[1]

Sir Amherst Selby-Bigge, 1st Baronet KCB JP
Sir Amherst in 1924
Permanent Secretary at the Board of Education
In office 1911–1925
Preceded by	Sir Robert Morant
Succeeded by	Sir Aubrey Symonds
Personal details
Born	Lewis Amherst Selby-Bigge 3 April 1860 Beckenham, Kent, England
Died	24 May 1951 (aged 91) Lewes, Sussex, England
Political party	Unionist Party
Spouse(s)	Edith Lindsay Davison ​ ​ (m. 1886)​
Relations	J. R. Davison (father-in-law) James Bowes-Lyon (grandson)
Children	3
Education	Winchester College
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford (B.A., 1883) University College, Oxford (M.A., 1886)
Occupation	Civil servant

Early life and education

Selby-Bigge was born at Oakwood House in Beckenham, Kent, the second son of Charles Selby Bigge JP, of Longhorsley, Northumberland, and Katharina Ogle.[2]

He was educated at Winchester College, followed by Christ Church, Oxford, where he earned a B.A. in 1883 with first-class honours in Literae humaniores. He was elected a Fellow of University College, Oxford in 1883 and was a tutor in philosophy for several years. He published multiple works on the doctrines of British moralists and edited their works, including David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature and An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, with full index. He earned an M.A. from University College in 1886.[1][3]

Career

Selby-Bigge was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1891. Three years later, he began his career in the civil service as Assistant Charity Commissioner (1894–1902), before joining the Board of Education, serving successively as Assistant Secretary (1903–07), Principal Assistant Secretary (1907–11) and Permanent Secretary (1911–25).[2] Reading law proved to be greatly beneficial in his future work researching legislation for the Board, such as the Education Act 1902 and the Education Act 1918.[1]

According to his obituary,

[Selby-Bigge] made his way through a highly controversial atmosphere with assurance and tact, and his legal training enabled him to clarify the maze of trusts set up under the old system and to bring order into a chaotic situation.

— The Times, 25 May 1951[1]

He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1905[4] and promoted to Knight Companion in the same order (KCB) in the 1913 New Year Honours.[5]

In the 1919 New Year Honours,[6] Sir Amherst was created a baronet, of King's Sutton, in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom, effective 14 February 1919. The title became extinct after the death of his only son, John, an artist, in 1973.[7]

In the 1929 general election, he unsuccessfully stood for the Combined English Universities constituency as Unionist Party candidate.

Personal life

On 15 September 1886, Selby-Bigge married Edith Lindsay Davison, OBE, daughter of late Right Hon. John Robert Davison, QC MP. They had one son and two daughters:[2]

• Sir John Amherst Selby-Bigge, 2nd Baronet, OBE (24 June 1892 – 3 October 1973)
• Evelyn Mary Selby-Bigge (16 October 1887), married Capt. Henry Cecil Pember, son of Henry George Pember
• Edith Katharine Selby-Bigge (31 March 1889), married Capt. Geoffrey Francis Bowes-Lyon, grandson of 13th Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and was the mother of:
  • Sir James Bowes-Lyon (1917–1977), first cousin of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother

Sir Amherst died in Lewes, Sussex in 1951.[1]

Bibliography

• Hume, David (1894). Selby-Bigge, Sir L. A. (ed.). An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Hume, David (1897). Selby-Bigge, Sir L. A. (ed.). A Treatise of Human Nature. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Selby-Bigge, Sir L. A., ed. (1897). British moralists, being selections from writers principally of the eighteenth century. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Selby-Bigge, Sir L. A., ed. (1897). British philosophy 1600–1900. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Selby-Bigge, Sir L. A. (1934). The Board of Education. London: Putnam.

References

1. "Obituary: Sir A. Selby-Bigge". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 25 May 1951. p. 8.
2. Burke, Sir Bernard, ed. (1939). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (97th ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. pp. 295–296. ISBN 0-00-082331-7.
3. Winchester College, 1836-1906: A Register. P. and G. Wells. 1907. p. 296. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
4. "No. 27852". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 November 1905. p. 7495.
5. "No. 31391". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 June 1919. p. 7296.
6. "No. 31099". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1918. p. 105.
7. "A King's Sutton artist and two world wars". Oxford Times. May 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2020.

External links

• Sir Amherst Selby-Bigge, 1st Baronet at Find a Grave
• Works by or about Sir Amherst Selby-Bigge, 1st Baronet at Internet Archive