Sir David Norman Reddaway (born 26 April 1953) is Chief Executive and Clerk of the
Goldsmiths' Company
The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, commonly known as the Goldsmiths' Company and formally titled The Wardens and Commonalty of the Mystery of Goldsmiths of the City of London, is one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies of the City of Londo ...
in the City of London. He is a retired British diplomat who was High Commissioner to Canada and Ambassador to Ireland and Turkey.
Career
Reddaway was born in
Ottawa, Ontario
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, Canada, where his father,
Norman Reddaway
George Frank Norman Reddaway (2 May 1918 – 12 October 1999) was a British civil servant and Diplomat.
Career
The younger son of William Reddaway , William Fiddian Reddaway (1872-1949), Professor of History at Cambridge University, Norman Redd ...
, also a British diplomat, was posted at the time. He attended
King's College School, Cambridge
King's College School is a coeducational independent preparatory school for children aged 4 to 13 in Cambridge, England, situated on West Road off Grange Road, west of the city centre. It was founded to educate the choristers in the King's ...
and
Oundle School
Oundle School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. The school has been governed by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City ...
, then studied History at
Fitzwilliam College
Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
The college traces its origins back to 1869 and the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of all ...
,
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, where his grandfather, the historian
William Fiddian Reddaway, had served as Censor. He joined the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...
in 1975. His career has included assignments to Iran (during the
Iranian revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...
), India, Spain, Argentina and Afghanistan.
In 2002, his appointment as British
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 ...
to Iran was rejected by the Iranian government, with some Iranian newspapers incorrectly accusing him of being "a
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
and a member of
MI6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
".
[ He speaks fluent ]Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
.
He served as High Commissioner to Canada between 2003 and 2006. In 2006 he was appointed the British Ambassador to Ireland and presented his diplomatic credentials
A letter of credence (french: Lettre de créance) is a formal diplomatic letter that designates a diplomat as ambassador to another sovereign state. Commonly known as diplomatic credentials, the letter is addressed from one head of state to ano ...
to the President of Ireland
The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces.
The president holds office for seven years, and can ...
, Mary McAleese
Mary Patricia McAleese ( ; ga, Máire Pádraigín Mhic Ghiolla Íosa; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish activist lawyer and former politician who served as the eighth president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. She is an academic ...
on 12 September 2006, succeeding Stewart Eldon
Sir Stewart Eldon, , OBE is a former Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to NATO.
Education
Eldon attended Christ's College, Cambridge and graduated in 1974 with a degree in electrical sciences.
Career
Eldon spent nearly 35 year ...
as the ambassador.
He was appointed to Turkey in 2009, and left Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
in January 2014.
Reddaway was appointed MBE 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 1980, CMG in 1993, and knighted KCMG in the 2013 Birthday Honours
The 2013 Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of ...
"for services to British diplomacy and furthering UK interests in Turkey".
Reddaway had the honour of celebrating his 64th birthday at a Chris de Burgh concert. De Burgh announced Sir David's birthday to a packed audience at the London Palladium on April 26, 2017, and gave a brief account of his role as a diplomat. He then sang the Beatles song 'When I'm 64.'
Personal
David Reddaway married Roshan Firouz in the late summer of 1981,[ ]
David remarried, to Gabrielle Claire O’Driscoll, in March, 2020.
Career
*1975–1977: Foreign and Commonwealth Office Desk Officer for East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
and the Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
*1977–1980: Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
: 3rd Secretary Commercial; 2nd later 1st Secretary Political
*1980–1984: Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, 1st Secretary Political
*1984–1986: Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...
Department, Desk Officer
*1986–1988: Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Private Secretary to Minister(s) of State
*1988–1990: New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
, 1st Secretary Political
*1990–1993: Tehran, chargé d'affaires
A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...
*1993–1997: Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, Minister & Deputy Head of Mission
*1997–1999: FCO: Head of Southern European Department
*1999–2001: FCO: Director Public Services
*2002–2002: London
London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, UK Special Representative for Afghanistan
*2002–2003: Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, Visiting Fellow
*2003–2006: Ottawa, High Commissioner
*2006–2009: Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, Ambassador
*2009–2014: Ankara, Ambassador
*2015–2022: Clerk, Goldsmith Company
Arms
Notes
References
External links
The British Embassy in Turkey Career history
— biography from the British Embassy's website
Britain’s new man in Ireland
— ''Sunday Business Post
The ''Business Post'' (formerly ''The Sunday Business Post'') is a Sunday newspaper distributed nationally in Ireland and an online publication. It is focused mainly on business and financial issues in Ireland.
Founding to Irish financial crisi ...
'' interview, 17 September 2006
A high-flying veteran diplomat
— BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
article, 8 February 2002
REDDAWAY, Sir David (Norman)
''Who's Who 2014'', A & C Black, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reddaway, David Norman
Living people
1953 births
People educated at Oundle School
Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
Harvard Fellows
Members of HM Diplomatic Service
High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Canada
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Ireland
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Turkey
Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Members of the Order of the British Empire
20th-century British diplomats
21st-century British diplomats