Alfred Stirling
Alfred Stirling CBE | |
---|---|
File:Alfred Stirling 1953.jpg | |
Born | Melbourne, Australia |
September 8, 1902
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Melbourne, Australia |
Resting place | Melbourne General Cemetery |
Nationality | Australian |
Alma mater | University of Melbourne (BA, MA, LLB) |
Occupation | Diplomat |
Spouse(s) | Never married |
Alfred Thorp Stirling CBE (8 September 1902 – 3 July 1981) was an Australian diplomat.
Stirling was the eldest of three children of Australian surgeon Robert Andrew Stirling and his second wife Isabella Jessie Matilda Oades-Thorp, a nurse from England. He graduated from the University of Melbourne (BA, 1922; MA, LL.B, 1924) where he excelled in French and won a W. T. Mollison scholarship for studying at University College, Oxford. He received his bachelor's degree there in 1927 and then worked as assistant to Robert Menzies in Melbourne. The two eventually became lifelong friends, and when Menzies became attorney-general he appointed Stirling as his secretary (1934–36).[1]
Stirling joined the Department of External Affairs in Canberra, where he headed the political section for a year. In 1937 he was sent to London as a liaison officer with the United Kingdom, and stayed there through World War II. In the meantime he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1941. After the war (1945–46) he became high commissioner in Ottawa, where he fully employed his knowledge of French. In 1947–1948, he was for fifteen months the minister in Washington, United States, and in 1948 appointed as high commissioner to South Africa.[1]
After becoming Prime Minister in 1949 Menzies sent Stirling to the Netherlands, where he served as Australian Ambassador from 1950 to 1955. While staying there Stirling helped soften the Dutch position to the territorial claims of Indonesia, and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1953. After that he was ambassador to France (1955–59), Philippines (1959–62), Italy (1962–67) and Greece (1964–65). For his diplomatic services he received Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (1963) and Order of George I of Greece (1964). He retired in 1967, declined a knighthood, and returned to Melbourne, where he wrote seven books in the 1970s. He died in 1981 in East Melbourne and was buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.[1]
Stirling never married, and in his early diplomatic assignments was accompanied by his mother and sister Dorothy.[1]
Publications
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References
Diplomatic posts | ||
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Preceded by | Australian High Commissioners to Canada 1945–1946 |
Succeeded by Frank Forde |
Preceded by | Australian High Commissioner to South Africa 1948–1950 |
Succeeded by John Quinn as Acting High Commissioner |
Preceded by as Minister to the Netherlands | Australian Ambassador to the Netherlands 1950–1955 |
Succeeded by Hugh McClure Smith |
Preceded by | Australian Ambassador to France 1955–1959 |
Succeeded by Edward Ronald Walker |
Preceded by | Australian Ambassador to the Philippines 1959–1962 |
Succeeded by Bill Cutts |
Preceded by | Australian Ambassador to Italy 1962–1967 |
Succeeded by Walter Crocker |
New title Australian embassy established in Athens
|
Australian Ambassador to Greece 1964–1965 |
Succeeded by Jo Gullett |
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- 1902 births
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- Ambassadors of Australia to France
- Ambassadors of Australia to Greece
- Ambassadors of Australia to Italy
- Ambassadors of Australia to the Netherlands
- Ambassadors of Australia to the Philippines
- Australian diplomats
- Australian public servants
- Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
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- High Commissioners of Australia to South Africa
- University of Melbourne alumni