Strutt, Edward Lisle (1874-1948), lieutenant colonel and mountaineer

Edward Strutt was born in 1874, he was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and Innsbruck University. He spent his holidays climbing, and he joined the Alpine Club at the age of 21. He was also a member of Sektion Bernina of the Swiss Alpine Club.

During the Boer War Strutt served with the Royal Scots, 1900-02 (dispatches, Queen’s Medal and four clasps, King’s Medal and two clasps).

He married Florence Nina Hollond in 1905.

In the period 1916-17 he was Field-Marshal Milne’s principal liaison officer with French headquarters at Salonika, and for his services in the war received many decorations and honours (D.S.O., 1917; C.B.E., 1919). In March 1919, as an officer of the Allied Council in Vienna, he escorted the Austrian Imperial Family to safety in Switzerland. In 1920 he became High Commissioner at Danzig.

On the Mount Everest expedition of 1922 he was second in command to General Bruce.

He was editor of the Alpine Journal from 1927 to 1937 and president of the Alpine Club from 1935 to 1938. His last visit to Switzerland was in May 1946, when he addressed a gathering of mountaineers at Zürich.