Edward Louis Spears

Sir Edward Louis Spears, 1st Baronet KBE CB MC
Sir Edward Louis Spears in court uniform c. 21 May 1942
Born	7 August 1886 Passy, Paris, France
Died	27 January 1974 (aged 87) Ascot, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1903–1919; 1940–1946
Rank	Major-General
Unit	8th Hussars
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire 1941, Companion of the Order of the Bath 1919, Military Cross 1915,
Other work	Chairman of Ashanti Goldfields 1945–1971; Chairman of Institute of Directors 1948–1966

Major-General Sir Edward Louis Spears, 1st Baronet, KBE CB MC (7 August 1886 – 27 January 1974) was a British Army officer and Member of Parliament noted for his role as a liaison officer between British and French forces in two world wars. Spears was a retired Brigadier General of the British Army, and served as a Member of the British House of Commons. From 1917-1920 he was head of the British Military Mission in Paris.

Spears was born of British parents at 7 chaussée de la Muette in the fashionable district of Passy in Paris on 7 August 1886; France would remain the land of his childhood. His parents, Charles McCarthy Spiers and Melicent Marguerite Lucy Hack, were British residents of France. His paternal grandfather was the noted lexicographer, Alexander Spiers, who had published an English-French and French-English dictionary in 1846. The work was extremely successful and adopted by the University of France for French Colleges.

Edward Louis Spears changed his name from Spiers to Spears in 1918. He claimed that the reason was his irritation at the mispronunciation of Spiers, yet it is possible that he wanted an English looking name – something more in keeping with his rank as a brigadier-general and head of the British Military Mission to the French War Office. He denied that he was of Jewish stock, but his great-grandfather had been an Isaac Spiers of Gosport who married Hannah Moses, a shopkeeper of the same town. His ancestry was no secret. In 1918 the French ambassador in London described him as "a very able and intriguing Jew who insinuates himself everywhere."

His parents separated while he was a child, and his maternal grandmother played an important role during his formative years. The young Louis (the name used by his friends) was often on the move, usually with his grandmother – Menton, Aix-les-Bains, Switzerland, Brittany and Ireland. He had contracted diphtheria and typhoid as an infant and was considered delicate. However, after two years at a tough boarding school in Germany, his physical condition improved and he became a strong swimmer and an athlete.