George John Sandys

George John Sandys was born on 23 September 1875 and died on 3 September 1937. He was a British diplomat and a member of the Conservative Party. His place of death was Antibes, France.

Sandys was the son of James Sandys of Slade House, located in Stroud, Gloucestershire. His early education was at Clifton College, a secondary school in Bristol, and he later attended Pembroke College at the University of Oxford.

In his military career, Sandys was commissioned as a second lieutenant. During the Second Boer War, which lasted from 1899 to 1902, he served with the Glamorgan Yeomanry starting in 1899. On 15 August 1900, he transferred to the regular army as a second lieutenant in the 5th Dragoon Guards. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 28 August 1901 while still serving in South Africa. Following the conclusion of the Second Boer War, Sandys transferred to the 2nd Life Guards in November 1902. He left the army in 1905 but rejoined during the First World War to serve in the British Expeditionary Force. During his wartime service, he was wounded at Ypres.

Sandys’ political career included serving as a Member of Parliament for Wells from 1910 until 1918. After his parliamentary service, he entered the diplomatic service, serving as an Honorary Attaché at the British Legation in Bern from 1921 to 1922 and in Paris from 1922 to 1925.

In his personal life, Sandys married Mildred Helen Cameron in 1905. Mildred was the daughter of Duncan Cameron of Canterbury, New Zealand. The marriage produced one child, a son named Duncan Sandys, who later became a member of parliament and served as a cabinet minister. Duncan Sandys's daughter, Laura Sandys, was also a Conservative politician and was elected to represent South Thanet in 2010. George John Sandys and Mildred Helen Cameron divorced in January 1921.

References and external links include contributions by Sandys in the Hansard archives, an image of him from the Lafayette Negative Archive, and listings from Leigh Rayment's Historical List of Members of Parliament.