John Anderson, Viscount Waverley. 1882-1958

The Right Honourable Sir John Anderson, O.M., 1st Viscount Waverley of Westdean, died in St Thomas’s Hospital, London, on 4 January 1958 at the age of 75, after a lifetime of public service. Few men have filled so many public posts of the highest importance and of such bewildering variety. No one who has covered so wide a range has ever, surely, left behind a record of so many difficult tasks carried through to a successful conclusion. But when this record of a lifetime’s work is set out, it is not the variety of his achievement which leaves the deepest impression. John Anderson had certain outstanding qualities of intellect and character: and the development of these qualities and his determination to use them for the public service, give to his whole life a singular degree of unity.