Sir Alexander John Dickson Stirling (20 October 1927 – 16 July 2014) was a British diplomat who was the UK's first ambassador to Bahrain, later ambassador to Iraq, Tunisia and Sudan.

Career

Stirling was educated at

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in the city's New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, is now part of the Se ...

, served with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

1945–48, then read

Modern Languages A modern language is any human language that is currently in use. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication (such as French and German) and dead classical languages such a ...

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

.STIRLING, Sir Alexander (John Dickson)
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2015 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014)Obituary: Sir Alec Stirling, KBE, CMG, diplomat
''The Scotsman'', Edinburgh, 10 September 2014 In 1951 he joined the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

and was sent to learn Arabic at the

Middle East Centre for Arab Studies The Middle East Centre for Arab Studies (MECAS) was an Arabic language college created by the British Army during World War II in Jerusalem, and relocated afterwards as a civilian institution to Lebanon near Beirut where it functioned between 1947� ...

, after which he served at

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

and as consul at

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

. He was posted to the British Embassy at

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

1965–67 and led the UK Delegation to the fourth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in 1966. After serving at the Foreign Office 1967–69 Stirling was posted as Political Agent to

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

, which had been under British protection since 1860. Bahrain declared independence in 1971 and Stirling became the first British ambassador to Bahrain. He was posted to Beirut again as Counsellor 1972–75, then attended the

Royal College of Defence Studies The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest level ...

before being appointed

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

1977–80, On 19 June 1980 he survived an assassination attempt: three terrorists burst into the embassy at

and fired three shots at him, one of which passed across his chest and through the lapel of his jacket. After Iraq, Stirling was ambassador to

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

1981–84 and to

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

1984–86. Stirling then retired from the Diplomatic Service and for 20 years worked with the charit
SOS Sahel
as a member of its Council and as Chairman 1993–97.

Honours

Stirling was appointed CMG in the

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

of 1976 and knighted KBE in the

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are present ...

of 1981.

References

Sources

Sir Alexander Stirling - obituary
''The Telegraph'', London, 1 September 2014
Sir Alexander Stirling
(obituary), ''The Times'', London, 9 September 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Stirling, Alexander John Dickson 1927 births 2014 deaths People educated at Edinburgh Academy Royal Air Force officers Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Bahrain Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Iraq Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Tunisia Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Sudan Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George