Edward John Harding
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Sir Edward John Harding (22 March 1880 – 4 October 1954) was a prominent
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
civil servant and diplomat and former High Commissioner to
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
.


Early life

Edward John Harding was born in 1880 in
Weeley Weeley is a village and civil parish in Tendring District, Tendring, east Essex, England. The population of the parish at the 2011 Census was 1,768. It is served by Weeley railway station on the Sunshine Coast Line. It has bus links to Clacton-on- ...
,
Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
. He was the son of John and Laura Harding, his father being a vicar. Although born in Essex, the family, consisting of Edward, his parents and his older sisters Eleanor and Evelyn, moved early in his life to Beckenham where his father became the parish vicar. He was educated first at a private preparatory school, the Abbey School in
Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...
, from 1889 to 1893. He then had a brief period at a school in
Margate Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook. The town has been a significan ...
and from 1895 was educated at
Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school for Single-sex education, boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, it began as the Col ...
. From Dulwich he gained a scholarship to study at
Hertford College, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The col ...
.''Obituary – Sir Edward Harding'', 1954, ''The Law Journal'', Volume 104 (E.B. Ince)


Diplomatic career

Harding was a career diplomat. He became Secretary of the Royal Commission on the Natural Resources, Trade and Legislation of Certain Portions of His Majesty's Dominions in December 1912 and accompanied the commission on all of its overseas visits: Australia and New Zealand (1913), South Africa (1914) and Canada (1914 and 1916). The long, informal letters he wrote to members of his family during these visits constituted a diary and are held as the ''"Dominions Royal Commission diary letters"'' by Cambridge University Library (Royal Commonwealth Society Library). In 1925, he became both the Deputy Undersecretary of State for Dominion Affairs and Assistant Permanent Undersecretary of State for Dominion Affairs. He then became the Permanent Undersecretary of State for Dominion Affairs in 1930, where he served until 1939. His Assistant Undersecretary was Sir Harry Batterbee, who was married to Harding's sister. Batterbee in 1939 became the British High Commissioner to New Zealand.
Nicholas Mansergh Philip Nicholas Seton Mansergh (27 June 1910 – 16 January 1991) was a historian. His focus was on Ireland and the British Commonwealth. As the Smuts Professor of Commonwealth History at Cambridge University after 1953, he trained many of the ...
, ''Survey of British Commonwealth affairs: problems of wartime co-operation and post-war change 1939-1952'', 1968, (Routledge), , After leaving the
Dominions Office The position of Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs was a British cabinet-level position created in 1925 responsible for British relations with the Dominions – Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa South Africa, officially t ...
Harding was appointed the British High Commissioner to South Africa in which capacity he served from 1940 until 1941.


Later life

He died at Guildford on 4 October 1954, at the age of 74.


See also

*
List of High Commissioners from the United Kingdom to South Africa The British High Commissioner to South Africa is the head of the United Kingdom's diplomatic mission in the Republic of South Africa. As fellow members of the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom and South Africa exchange high commissio ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, Edward John 1880 births 1954 deaths People educated at Dulwich College Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford Ambassadors and High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to South Africa Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Foreign Office personnel of World War II People from Tendring (district)