The English statesman James Eric Drummond, 16th Earl of Perth (1876-1951), was the first secretary general of the League of Nations.

Eric Drummond, Earl of Perth, was born on Aug. 17, 1876. He was educated at Eton and began his Foreign Office career in 1900. He advanced slowly but in 1906 became private secretary to Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, the parliamentary undersecretary. Perth held this post until 1910 except for a short interval in 1908. In 1908 and again in 1910-1911, he was précis writer for Sir Edward Grey, the foreign secretary.

Perth's work with Grey was the beginning of a period extending to 1919 in which he developed close friendships with his chiefs. From 1912 to 1915 he was private secretary to Herbert Asquith, the prime minister, and then to the succession of foreign secretaries from 1915 to 1919, Grey, Arthur Balfour, and George Curzon. His ability was so highly regarded that when a candidate was needed for...