Frederick Sykes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frederick Hugh Sykes
23 July 1877 – 30 September 1954
Major-General Frederick Sykes
Place of birth	Croydon, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Rank	Air Vice Marshal
Battles/wars	Boer War, World War I
Other work	Statesman and Politician

Air Vice Marshal Sir Frederick Hugh Sykes, GCSI, GCIE, GBE, KCB, CMG, PC, (23 July 1877 - 30 September 1954) was a military officer, British statesman and politician.

Contents 1 Military career 2 Political career 3 Family life 4 References

[edit] Military career

Following civilian employment as a clerk and after working on a tea plantation in Ceylon, Sykes enlisted as a trooper in the British Army at the start of the Boer War. Following capture, Sykes was forcably marched across South Africa but was later abandoned and returned to the British. In 1900 he was commissioned into Lord Roberts' Bodyguard but suffered a serious wound to the chest which resulted in his being invalided back to Great Britain. On 2 October 1901 he was granted a regular commission as a 2nd lieutenant in the 15th Hussars. In the following years, Sykes served in India and, for a short time, in West Africa.

In 1904, Sykes's interest in aviation was first demonstrated when he obtained his ballooning certificate whilst being attached to the Balloon Section of the Royal Engineers. In 1910 Sykes commenced flying lessons at Brooklands which led to him being awarded Royal Aero Club certificate No. 95 in June 1911.

In February 1911, Sykes was posted as a staff officer to the Directorate of Military Operations at the War Office. As a firm believer in the importance of wartime aerial reconnaissance, he was chosen to join the sub-committee of the Committe of Imperial Defence which was given the task of investigating the use of aircraft. Brigadier-General Henderson and Major McInness also served on the same sub-committee and their recommendations (given in 1912) were accepted by the Committe of Imperial Defence and resulted in the formation of the Royal Flying Corps.

On 13 May 1912 Sykes was appointed Officer Commanding the Military Wing of the Royal Flying Corps. His duties included the recruitment and training of pilots.

With the outbreak of World War I, Royal Flying Corps squadrons were deployed to France in August 1914. Although the configuration and effectivness of the deployed forces owed much to Sykes, as a middle-ranking officer he lacked the seniority thought necessary for command in the field. General Sir David Henderson became the General Officer Commanding the Royal Flying Corps in the Field and Sykes acted as his Chief of Staff.

On 22 November 1914, Henderson was appointed General Officer Commanding the 1st Infantry Division and Sykes took up command of the Royal Flying Corps in the Field. Whilst in command, Sykes solicited suggestions for a new motto for the Corps. Sykes approved J S Yule's suggestion, Per Ardua ad Astra, and it was this phrase which was subsequently adopted by the Royal Air Force as its motto. However, Sykes did not spend long in command. The decision to post Henderson and replace him with Sykes was not to Lord Kitchener's liking and he ordered a reversal of the appointments. On 20 December 1914, Henderson resumed command of the Royal Flying Corps in the Field and Sykes was once again his Chief of Staff.

With the rapid expansion of the Corps, there was a growing debate between those who believed that the Corps should remain under central control and those who believed that its units should be placed under the control of the corps or divisional commanders. Unsurprisingly as Chief of Staff, Sykes took the former view and following increasing arguments, Sykes was posted on 26 May 1915 being placed at the disposal of the Admiralty.

Sykes visited the Dardanelles to investigate the confused air situation and after writing a report he was appointed as the Officer Commanding the Royal Naval Air Service Eastern Mediterranean Station with the naval rank of captain, having briefly been appointed Colonel Commandant in the Royal Marines. During this time he acted on the recommendations of his report.

In 1916 Sykes worked on organising the Machine Gun Corps and manpower planning. He then served on the British section of the Allied War Council in Versailles under General Wilson.

Sykes's military career culminated in his appointment as Chief of the Air Staff from 13 April 1918 to 1 January 1919 when he retired with the rank of Major General. He was granted the equivalent rank of Air Vice Marshal when the RAF introduced its own rank structure in August 1919. It is believed that Sykes is the only man in British history to have been a serving officer in all three of the military services - the army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.

In February 1919, Sykes led the British Air Section at the Paris Peace Conference in Versailles.

From 1919 to 1922, Sykes was the Controller of Civil Aviation. He retired from the RAF on 1 April 1919 some months after becoming the Controller-General of Civil Aviation.

[edit] Political career

In 1922, Sykes entered public political life and at the 1922 general election he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Hallam from 1922, representing the Conservative and Liberal Unionist party. He resigned the seat on 26 June 1928 to take up an appointment as Governor of Bombay on 8 December 1928, serving in this post until 25 April 1931.

Ater the death in May 1940 of Terence O'Connor, the Solicitor General and MP for Nottingham Central, Sykes was returned unopposed in the resulting by-election. He served as Nottingham Central MP until the 1945 general election, when the seat was won for Labour by Geoffrey de Freitas.

[edit] Family life

Frederick Sykes's father was Henry Sykes of Addiscombe in London. Frederick Sykes was born in Croydon and married Isabel H. Law, the daughter of Conservative Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law in 1920. They had a son, Bonar.

[edit] References

• Ash, Eric (1999). Sir Frederick Sykes and the air revolution, 1912-1918. Publisher: London ; Portland, OR : Frank Cass. ISBN 0-7146-4828-0 (cloth) ISBN 0-7146-4382-3 (paperback)
• Maj.-Gen. Rt. Hon. Sir Frederick Hugh Sykes. thePeerage.com (accessed 8 October 2005).
• Provinces of British India. World Statesmen.org (accessed 8 October 2005).
• Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation - AVM Sykes
• Probert, H. (1991). High Commanders of the Royal Air Force. HMSO. ISBN 0-11-772635-4
• Sykes, Major-General the Right Hon Sir Frederick (1942) From Many Angles: an autobiography. Publisher: Harrap, London

Military Offices
Preceded by Sir David Henderson	Officer Commanding the Royal Flying Corps in the Field 22 November 1914 – 20 December 1914	Succeeded by Sir David Henderson
Preceded by Hugh Trenchard	Chief of the Air Staff 1918 – 1919	Succeeded by Hugh Trenchard
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Douglas Vickers	Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam 1922 – 1928	Succeeded by Sir Louis William Smith
Preceded by Terence O'Connor	Member of Parliament for Nottingham Central 1940 – 1945	Succeeded by Geoffrey de Freitas
Political offices
Preceded by Sir Henry Staveley Lawrence	Governor of Bombay 1928 – 1931	Succeeded by The Lord Brabourne