Lord Ismay and Sir Eric Mieville 1946. Sir Eric Charles Mieville, was a senior British civil servant who served as Assistant Private Secretary to George VI from 1937 to 1945, and who also served as Private Secretary to several Governors-General of India and Canada. General Hastings Lionel Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay, was a British Indian Army officer and diplomat, remembered primarily for his role as Winston Churchill's chief military assistant during the Second World War and his service as the first Secretary General of NATO from 1952 to 1957.