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Description area
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History
Born 1886 as Edward Louis Spiers; educated privately; Kildare Militia, 1903; gazetted 8 Hussars, 1906; 11 Hussars, 1910; World War One, 1914-1918; appointed liaison officer between British C-in-C Sir John French, and General Charles Lanrezac of the French 5 Army at the outbreak of War; Head of British Military Mission, Paris, 1917-1920; changed spelling of surname from Spiers to Spears in 1918; Member of Parliament, Loughborough (National Liberal), 1922-1924; Member of Parliament, Carlisle (Conservative), 1931-1945; Maj Gen, 1940; Personal representative for the British Prime Minister with the French Prime Minister, Paul Reynaud, May-Jun 1940; Head of British Mission to General Charles de Gaulle, Jun 1940; Head of Mission to Syria and Lebanon, 1942-1944; a leading figure in the foundation of the Institute of Directors and Chairman of the Council of the Institute until 1965; died 1974.
Publications: Prelude to victory (Cape, 1939), Assignment to catastrophe (William Heinemann: London, 1954), Liaison (William Heinemann, 1930), Lessons of the Russo-Japanese War, translated by E. L. Spiers (Hugh Rees, London, 1906), Two men who saved France (Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1966), The picnic basket (Secker & Warburg, London, 1967).