Japan's Prince Tokugawa, born in 1863 in Edo (later renamed Tokyo), was chairman of the Standing Commission at a sensitive time in the years leading to World War Two.

He left Japan in 1877 to study in Britain for five years. On return, he received a princedom. In 1903, he was appointed chairman of the House of Peers.

In 1928, Prince Tokugawa was appointed as the 7th President of the Japanese Red Cross Society. In 1933, he told the Executive Council of the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: "The ideal of the Red Cross is a notion common to the world, but today there are so many problems which would encourage the world to fall apart".

He urged the 1934 International Conference in Tokyo to "serve for humanity, while disregarding the hatred held by States".

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