Anthony Eden facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Right Honourable The Earl of Avon KG MC PC
Eden c. 1942
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 6 April 1955 – 9 January 1957
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Sir Winston Churchill
Succeeded by	Harold Macmillan
Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 26 October 1951 – 6 April 1955
Prime Minister	Sir Winston Churchill
Preceded by	Herbert Morrison
Succeeded by	Rab Butler (1962)
Leader of the Conservative Party
In office 6 April 1955 – 10 January 1957
Preceded by	Sir Winston Churchill
Succeeded by	Harold Macmillan
Ministerial offices Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs In office 28 October 1951 – 6 April 1955 Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill Preceded by Herbert Morrison Succeeded by Harold Macmillan In office 22 December 1940 – 26 July 1945 Prime Minister Winston Churchill Preceded by The Viscount Halifax Succeeded by Ernest Bevin In office 22 December 1935 – 20 February 1938 Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin Neville Chamberlain Preceded by Sir Samuel Hoare Succeeded by The Viscount Halifax Leader of the House of Commons In office 22 November 1942 – 26 July 1945 Prime Minister Winston Churchill Preceded by Sir Stafford Cripps Succeeded by Herbert Morrison Secretary of State for War In office 11 May 1940 – 22 December 1940 Prime Minister Winston Churchill Preceded by Oliver Stanley Succeeded by David Margesson Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs In office 3 September 1939 – 14 May 1940 Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain Winston Churchill Preceded by Sir Thomas Inskip Succeeded by The Viscount Caldecote Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal In office 31 December 1933 – 7 June 1935 Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald Preceded by Stanley Baldwin Succeeded by The Marquess of Londonderry Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs In office 3 September 1931 – 18 January 1934 Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald Preceded by Hugh Dalton Succeeded by The Earl Stanhope
Parliamentary offices Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal In office 12 July 1961 – 14 January 1977 Hereditary Peerage Preceded by Earldom created Succeeded by The 2nd Earl of Avon Member of Parliament for Warwick and Leamington In office 6 December 1923 – 10 January 1957
Preceded by	Ernest Pollock
Succeeded by	John Hobson
Personal details
Born	Robert Anthony Eden (1897-06-12)12 June 1897 Windlestone Hall, County Durham, England
Died	14 January 1977(1977-01-14) (aged 79) Alvediston, Wiltshire, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouses	Beatrice Beckett ​ ​ (m. 1923; div. 1950)​ Clarissa Spencer-Churchill ​ (m. 1952)​
Children	3, including Nicholas
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford
Military service
Branch/service	British Army
Years of service	1915–1919 1920–1923 1939 (as Territorial)
Rank	Major
Unit	King's Royal Rifle Corps Durham Light Infantry
Battles/wars	First World War Battle of the Somme Battle of Messines Battle of Passchendaele Operation Michael Hundred Days Offensive
Awards	Military Cross
n.b.

Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon KG MC PC (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was better known throughout his time in office as Sir Anthony Eden.

Eden was born into a wealthy family which had owned slaves and plantations in the Caribbean. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford.

Eden was one of the best-known politicians of his generation. He was appointed Foreign Secretary in 1935 by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, and resigned in 1938 in protest at Chamberlain's appeasement of Adolf Hitler. He was Churchill's Foreign Secretary during World War II, and again in 1951–1955.

He had operation to remove gallstones in 1953. The operation went wrong, and his health was ruined. He became Prime Minister in 1955 when Winston Churchill retired. He stopped being Prime Minister in 1957 when Harold Macmillan replaced him. The Suez Crisis of 1956 was a critical period. This and his health led up to his resignation as Prime Minister. Eden died of liver cancer, aged 79. His widow, Clarissa Eden, Countess of Avon, was born in 1920. She is a niece of Winston Churchill.

Eden's life can be described in two halves. The first half, in the 1930s and in wartime, was brilliant. But he is often ranked among the least successful British Prime Ministers of the 20th century, although two broadly sympathetic biographies (in 1986 and 2003) have gone some way to redressing the balance of opinion. D.R. Thorpe says the Suez Crisis "was a truly tragic end to his premiership, and one that came to assume a disproportionate importance in any assessment of his career".

Eden had three sons. The elder and middle sons died before him. His Earl of Avon title was inherited by the younger son, Nicholas. When Nicholas died, the title became extinct.

Images for kids

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  The Uffizi Society Oxford, ca. 1920. First row standing: later Sir Henry Studholme (5th from left). Seated: Lord Balniel, later 28th Earl of Crawford (2nd from left); Ralph Dutton, later 8th Baron Sherborne (3rd from left); Anthony Eden, later Earl of Avon (4th from left); Lord David Cecil (5th from left).

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  Eden with French Prime Minister Léon Blum in Geneva in 1936

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  Eden with Mackenzie King and Winston Churchill meeting Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Quebec Conference in 1943.

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  Potsdam Conference: The Foreign Ministers Vyacheslav Molotov, James F. Byrnes and Anthony Eden, July 1945.

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  Geneva Conference, 21 July 1954. Last plenary session on Indochina in the Palais des Nations.

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  Tomb at St Mary's church, Alvediston, Wiltshire

See also

In Spanish: Anthony Eden para niños