Arthur Hirtzel

Who was Arthur Hirtzel?

Sir Arthur Hirtzel GCB was a British Civil servant in the India Office and an academic.

Frederic Arthur Hirtzel was born in Minehead, Somerset on the 14 May 1870 the only child of Frederic and Florence Hirtzel. He started his education at a preparatory school in Croydon and in 1882 went to Dulwich College.

He was elected as a fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford in 1895, after having studied at Dulwich College and Trinity College, Oxford. His first important posting at the India Office came in March 1901, when he was appointed Private Secretary to Sir Arthur Godley, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India. He later acted as Private Secretary to Sir John Morley, the Secretary of State for India, while he was promulgating what came to be known as the Morley-Minto Reforms which came into effect in 1909. Following this, he became Secretary in the Political Department from 1909 to 1917, followed by being appointed as the assistant under-secretary and then the deputy under-secretary of state during the period 1917 to 1924. Finally, he became the permanent under-secretary of state during the period 1924 to 1930 when he retired.

He wrote a few books on Christianity, the British Empire and also on music.