Francis Rodd, 2nd Baron Rennell

Rodd at his desk as the Staff Officer of the Allied Military Government in Sicily in 1943

Major General Francis James Rennell Rodd, 2nd Baron Rennell KBE CB DL JP (25 October 1895 – 15 March 1978) was the second but eldest surviving son of the diplomat Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell.

War background

During the First World War he served in the artillery and, since he spoke four languages fluently, as an intelligence officer in France, Italy North Africa, Egypt, Libya, Palestine and Syria. Rodd would later make two great expeditions into the central Sahara (in 1922 and 1927) which provided him for the material of his book about the Tuareg, entitled People of the Veil.[1] In 1939, Rodd was re-commissioned into the army and served as Chief of Civil Affairs, Staff Officer of the Allied Military Government in Sicily,[2] and as Major General, Civil Affairs Administration Middle East Command, East Africa Command, and Italy.[3] After the war he joined the civil service.

Family

On the 3 August 1928, he married The Hon. Mary Constance Vivian Smith, daughter of Vivian Smith, 1st Baron Bicester. They had four daughters.

  • Hon. Joanna Phoebe Rodd (1929–2016) married Comte Gerard de Renusson d'Hauteville
  • Hon. Juliet Honor Rodd (1930–?) married Brian Boobyer
  • Hon. Mary Elizabeth Jill Rodd (1932–) married firstly Michael Dunne (1928–); married secondly Christopher Bridges Daniell.
  • Hon. Rachel Georgiana Rodd (1935–?) married Richard Douglas Blythe.

Civil service and title

He was president of the Royal Geographical Society 1945–1948 and on the board of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) 1954–1965.[4] On the death of his father on 26 July 1941 he gained the title of 2nd Baron Rennell and, as he had no sons, the barony passed to his nephew Tremayne Rodd, 3rd Baron Rennell, on his death in 1978.

Bibliography

  • General William Eaton;: The Failure of an Idea (Minton, Balch and company; First Edition (1932)
  • People of the veil. Being an account of the habits, organisation and history of the wandering Tuareg tribes which inhabit the mountains of Air or Asben in the Central Sahara, London, MacMillan & Co., 1926 (repr. Oosterhout, N.B., Anthropological Publications, 1966)
  • British Military Administration of Occupied Territories in Africa during the Years 1941-1947, (Greenwood Press 30 Oct 1970)

Bibliography reference

  • Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War, Nick Smart. ISBN 1-84415-049-6.
  • Debrett's Peerage

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  2. ↑ "Search Our Collections".
  3. ↑ "Biography of Major-General Francis James Rennell Rodd Baron Rennell of Rodd (1895 – 1978), Great Britain".
  4. ↑ "Obituary: Lord Rennell of Rodd, KBE, CB, JP". The Geographical Journal. 144 (2): 392–393. 1 January 1978. doi:10.2307/634229 (inactive 2018-09-22). JSTOR 634229.
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
James Rodd		 Baron Rennell
1941–1978		 Succeeded by
John Tremayne Rodd

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