Dame Barbara Salt, (30 September 1904 – 28 December 1975) was a British diplomat. Salt was born in

Oroville, California Oroville (''Oro'', Spanish for "Gold" and ''Ville'', French for "town") is the county seat of Butte County, California, United States. The population of the city was 15,506 at the 2010 census, up from 13,004 in the 2000 census. Following the ...

to Reginald Salt, an English banker and his wife, Maud, who returned to England not long after her birth. She was the granddaughter of banker and politician

Sir Thomas Salt Sir Thomas Salt, 1st Baronet (12 May 1830 – 8 April 1904), was a British banker and Conservative politician. Career His grandfather John Stevenson Salt, (High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1838), married Sarah Stevenson, the granddaughter of ...

. She grew up in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

and Seaford, Sussex and was educated at universities in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. Salt was the first British woman in the Diplomatic Service to become Counsellor, Minister and Ambassador-Designate. She was appointed Ambassador to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in 1962, the first such post to go to a woman. Due to a serious illness, which resulted in the amputation of both of her legs, she was unable to take up the post. She spent time in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

, the former

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

, and Switzerland in official capacities. She was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in 1946,

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in 1959, and

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(DBE) in 1963. She retired in 1973 and died at her home in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, aged 71, on 28 December 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salt, Barbara 1904 births 1975 deaths British women diplomats Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire People from Seaford, East Sussex British expatriates in the United States Members of HM Diplomatic Service British diplomats British amputees 20th-century British diplomats