Frederick Sykes

Air Vice Marshal Sir Frederick Hugh Sykes, (23 July 1877 – 30 September 1954) was a British military officer and politician. Sykes was a junior officer in the 15th Hussars before becoming interested in military aviation. He was the first Officer Commanding the Military Wing of the Royal Flying Corps before the First World War, and later served as the Flying Corps' Chief of Staff in France in 1914 and 1915. Later in the war, he served in the Royal Naval Air Service in the Eastern Mediterranean before returning to Great Britain where he worked to organise the Machine Gun Corps and manpower planning. In late 1917 and early 1918, Sykes was the deputy to General Wilson on the Supreme War Council and from April 1918 to early 1919 he served as the second Chief of the Air Staff. After the war, Sykes was appointed the Controller of Civil Aviation and he continued in this role until 1922 when he entered politics, becoming the Conservative MP for Sheffield Hallam, which he held until 1928 when he resigned. From 1928 to 1931 he was Governor of Bombay, after which time he returned to Great Britain where he involved himself in business and public life. During the Second World War, Sykes was an MP once more, this time for Central Nottingham. He lost his seat in 1945 and he died nine years later. Military career Sykes was the son of Henry Sykes and Margaret Sykes (née Sykes), and nephew of the artist Godfrey Sykes. Following civilian employment as a clerk and after working on a tea plantation in Ceylon, Sykes enlisted as a trooper in the Imperial Yeomanry Scouts regiment of the British Army at the start of the Second Boer War. Following capture, Sykes was forcibly marched across South Africa but was later abandoned and returned to the British forces. In 1900 he was commissioned into Lord Roberts' Bodyguard but suffered a serious wound to the chest which resulted in his being invalided back to Great Britain. On 2 October 1901 he was granted a regular commission as a second lieutenant in the 15th Hussars. He was posted to the West African Regiment and granted the local rank of lieutenant on 7 March 1903. He was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant on 29 July 1903.