Roger Makins, 1st Baron Sherfield

Makins was the son of Brigadier-General Sir Ernest Makins (1869–1959) and Florence Mellor. He was educated at Winchester College and Christ Church, Oxford, and was called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1927. ==Early diplomatic career==

However, he never practised and instead joined the Diplomatic Service in 1928. In 1938 Makins minuted a Foreign Office memorandum dealing with the German refugee problem thus: "The pitiful condition to which German jews will be reduced will not make them desirable immigrants". He was later appointed to be Minister Plenipotentiary at the British Embassy in Washington in 1945, and served until 1947. He was Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office from 1947 to 1948 and as Deputy Under-Secretary of State from 1948 to 1952. ==Ambassador to the United States==

and U.S. diplomat Wadsworth in Washington in 1956 In 1953 he was appointed to be the Ambassador to the United States, a post he held until 1956. On the eve of the Suez Crisis, he was present at the crucial meeting on 25 September 1956 where Harold Macmillan was apparently persuaded that US President Dwight D. Eisenhower had offered the British Government tacit support; Makins, on the other hand, correctly concluded that Eisenhower would not support the intervention. ==Later career in the civil service==

After his return from Washington he served as Joint Permanent Secretary to The Treasury from 1956 to 1960 and as Chairman of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority from 1960 to 1964. ==Chancellorship==

Makins was appointed to the post of Chancellor of the University of Reading in 1969, and retained this position until 1992. ==Marriage and children==

On 30 April 1934, in an Episcopal ceremony in Tallahassee, Florida, he married an American, Alice Brooks Davis (d. 1985), the daughter of Dwight F. Davis, founder of the Davis Cup and former US Secretary of War. The couple had six children: • Mary Makins (b. 1935, twin). Married firstly, as his second wife, Hugo John Laurence Philipps, later 3rd Baron Milford, with whom she had four children. Married secondly, as his second wife, John Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich, without issue; • Cynthia Makins (b. 1935, twin). Married Oliver James Colman, with whom she had two children; • Patricia Makins (b. 1946). Married, firstly, Michael Ordway Miller, without issue, married, secondly, Loring Sagan, with whom she had two children; ==Honours==

Makins was appointed to the Order of St Michael and St George as a Companion (CMG) in the 1944 New Year Honours and was promoted in the same Order as a Knight Commander (KCMG) in the 1949 Birthday Honours. He was appointed to the Order of the Bath as a Knight Commander (KCB) in the 1953 New Year Honours. He was promoted in the Order of St Michael and St George as a Knight Grand Cross (GCMG) in the 1955 New Year Honours and was promoted within the Order of the Bath as a Knight Grand Cross (GCB) in the 1960 New Year Honours. In the 1964 Birthday Honours, Makins was raised to the peerage as Baron Sherfield, of Sherfield-on-Loddon in the County of Southampton. He was elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) under Statute 12 (for those "who have rendered conspicuous service to the cause of science, or are such that election would be of signal benefit to the Society") in 1986. ==Arms==

, a Millais from Makins's collection. Makins was a notable collector of Victorian art. The Makins Collection contained important works by John Everett Millais. ==References==