Harold Anthony Caccia, Baron Caccia, (21 December 1905

Pachmarhi Pachmarhi is a hill station in Narmadapuram district of Madhya Pradesh state of central India. It has been the location of a cantonment (Pachmarhi Cantonment) since British Raj. It is widely known as ''Satpura ki Rani'' ("Queen of Satpura"), ...

, India – 31 October 1990

Builth Wells Builth Wells (; cy, Llanfair-ym-Muallt) is a market town and community in the county of Powys and historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), mid Wales, lying at the confluence of rivers Wye and Irfon, in the Welsh (or upper) part of ...

, Wales) was a British diplomat. President John F

Caccia was the son of Major Anthony Mario Felix Caccia, Conservator of the

Imperial Forest Service The Indian Forest Service (IFS) is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India. The other two All India Services being the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. It was constituted in the year 1966 ...

, and his wife Fanny Theodora Birch, daughter of Azim Salvatore Birch, of Pudlicote House, Charlbury,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. He was educated at Summer Fields School, Eton College and Trinity College, Oxford and won a Blue at rugby union, playing at centre for Oxford in the Varsity match in 1926. He played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

for

in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

between 1928 and 1938. In 1932 he married Anne Catherine Barstow, daughter of Sir George Barstow and Enid Lillian Lawrence. Caccia entered the diplomatic service in 1929 and was posted to Peking and then to Athens and London where, in 1936, he became assistant private secretary to

Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achieving rapid promo ...

. He was back in Athens early in World War II, but was then attached to the staff of

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as "Supermac", he ...

, Britain's representative at Allied headquarters in North Africa. The

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος �όλεμος ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom ...

once again saw him in that country, and by 1945 his services earned him recognition on the Birthday Honours List. Caccia was Ambassador to Austria from 1951 to 1954, and from 1956 to 1961

Ambassador to the United States The following table lists 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 repre ...

. He was sent to Washington to repair relations badly damaged by the

Suez crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

of 1956. The breakdown in mutual confidence arose when Britain and France joined an Israeli invasion of Egypt and sent military forces to capture the Suez Canal, which had been nationalised by President

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

of Egypt. In the years that followed, he was instrumental in restoring and nurturing the "special relationship" between London and Washington. His daughter Clarissa married David Pryce-Jones, son of Alan Pryce-Jones and Thérèse Fould-Springer ("Poppy"). In 1961, he became

Permanent Under-Secretary of State A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior civil servant of a department or ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil se ...

, an office he held until 1965. He was Provost of Eton 1965-78 and President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 1973–74. He was knighted in 1950, and was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

with the title Baron Caccia, ''of Abernant in the

County of Brecknock , image_flag= , HQ= Brecon , Government= Brecknockshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= Brycheiniog , Status= , Start= 1535 , End= ...

'', on 11 May 1965. Caccia was appointed a

Bailiff A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offi ...

Grand Cross and Lord Prior of the

Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headqu ...

, a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order and a Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

. Lord Caccia was a Knight of the International Order of St. Hubertus.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Caccia, Harold 1905 births 1990 deaths People from Pachmarhi People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Bailiffs Grand Cross of the Order of St John Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Caccia Diplomatic peers Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the United States Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Austria Members of HM Diplomatic Service Chairs of the Joint Intelligence Committee (United Kingdom) People educated at Summer Fields School Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs Provosts of Eton College Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club English cricketers Oxfordshire cricketers Oxford University RFC players Life peers created by Elizabeth II 20th-century British diplomats British people in colonial India