Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen
Sir Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull-Hugessen KCMG (26 March 1886 – 21 March 1971[1]) was a British diplomat, civil servant and author.
Background and education
He was the second son of Reverend Reginald Bridges Knatchbull-Hugessen, son of Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet, and his second wife Rachel Mary, daughter of Admiral Sir Alexander Montgomery, 3rd Baronet.[2] Knatchbull-Hugessen was educated at Eton College and then at Balliol College, Oxford, where he befriended Anthony Eden and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1907.[3] A year later, he joined the Foreign Office.[4]
Career
He soon obtained the chance of the paid post of an attaché and in October 1909 he went to Constantinople.[3] Returned to England, he served in the contraband department during the First World War and after its end in 1918, when the Foreign Service and the Diplomatic Service merged, Knatchbull-Hugessen became eligible for other postings.[3] Promoted to first secretary, he was attached to the British Delegation at the Versailles Conference in January 1919,[4] for which he was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1920 New Year Honours.[5]
After a stop in The Hague, followed by Paris, he became counsellor at the country's embassy in Brussel in 1926, an office he held until 1930.[1] In 1931 Knatchbull-Hugessen was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republics of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia until 1934; he was stationed at Riga, Latvia.[6] Then he transferred to Tehran as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Persia.[4] He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 1936 New Year Honours[7] and was sent to China as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.[8] The following year, his car was machine-gunned by a Japanese fighter aircraft, and he was hit.[9] First hospitalised in Shanghai and then invalided home to Britain, he narrowly escaped paralysis.[3]
Having taken over a year to recover from his wound, Knatchbull-Hugessen was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Turkish Republic in 1939.[10] During his time in Ankara, his Albanian valet Elyesa Bazna, known as Cicero regularly opened his mail and safe, passing any useful information on to German High Command; one of the more damaging spying incidents of World War II.[11] In 1944, Knatchbull-Hugessen was nominated Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Belgium and additionally Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Luxembourg, retiring three years later.[12]
Family
On 16 July 1912, he married Mary Gilmour (who died in 1978), daughter of Brigadier-General Sir Robert Gilmour, 1st Baronet and had by her three children, one son and two daughters.[13]
Works
- Diplomat in Peace and War (1949)
- Kentish Family (1960)
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 31712. p. 5. 30 December 1919. Retrieved 1 September 2008.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 33724. p. 3758. 9 June 1931. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
- ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 34238. p. 6. 31 December 1935. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 34331. p. 6536. 13 October 1936. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 34607. p. 1763. 14 March 1939. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 36811. p. 5393. 24 November 1944. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
- Obituary, The Times, 23 March 1971
Diplomatic posts | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by | Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republics of Estonia, Lavia and Lithuania 1930–1934 |
Succeeded by Edmund Monson |
Preceded by | Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Persia 1934–1936 |
Succeeded by Sir Horace Seymour |
Preceded by | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to China 1936–1937 |
Succeeded by Archibald Clark Kerr |
Preceded by | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Turkish Republic 1939–1944 |
Succeeded by Sir Noel Charles |
Preceded by
None due to World War II
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Belgium 1944–1947 |
Succeeded by Sir George Rendel |
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Luxembourg 1944–1947 |
- Pages with broken file links
- Commons category link from Wikidata
- 1886 births
- 1971 deaths
- Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
- Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to China
- Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Turkey
- Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Luxembourg
- Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Belgium
- Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Iran
- Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Estonia
- Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Lithuania
- Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Latvia
- Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
- People educated at Eton College
- Members of HM Diplomatic Service
- Members of HM Foreign Service