Sir Horace Hyman Phillips,

KCMG KCMG may refer to * KC Motorgroup, based in Hong Kong, China * Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, British honour * KCMG-LP, radio station in New Mexico, USA * KCMG, callsign 1997-2001 of Los Angeles radio station KKLQ (FM) ...

(31 May 1917 – 19 March 2004) was a British

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

. He was the first British Jewish career ambassador.

Biography

Phillips was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, the eldest of seven children, and the grandson of Jewish emigrants from Eastern Europe. After attending

Hillhead High School Hillhead High School is a day school in Glasgow, Scotland, on Oakfield Avenue, neighbouring the University of Glasgow. Admissions It is one of the largest schools in Glasgow. History Grammar school Until 1972 it was a co-educational selectiv ...

he entered the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

as a clerical officer. During the Second World War, he served in the

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, ...

and

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

armies for seven years (

Dorsetshire Regiment The Dorset Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958, being the county regiment of Dorset. Until 1951, it was formally called the Dorsetshire Regiment, although usually known as "The Dorsets". In 19 ...

and

1st Punjab Regiment The 1st Punjab Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. Upon the Partition of India, it was transferred to the newly-raised Pakistan Army. It ceased to exist in this form in 1956, when it was amalgamate ...

). He served in Iraq, India, Burma, Ceylon and Malaya, and reached the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

in the Indian Army. While he was in India, probably in mid-1943, he was sent to the School of Japanese Instruction at

Simla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, the ...

and completed a six-month language course for intelligence work.Peter Kornicki, Eavesdropping on the Emperor: Interrogators and Codebreakers in Britain's War with Japan (London: Hurst & Co., 2021), p. 171. Having been rebuffed by the Consular Service before the war due to his social standing, Phillips joined the

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to ...

in 1947, and served successively in Persia, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Aden, and Iran. He was British ambassador to Indonesia from 1966 to 1968. That year, he was selected as the British ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Having given their

agrément Agrément, in international affairs, is the agreement by a state to receive members of a diplomatic mission from a foreign country. In this procedure, the posting state formally requests consent, via a ''demande d'agréation'', from the receivin ...

, the Saudi government withdrew it when it was learned that Phillips was Jewish, even though Phillips had previously served in Saudi Arabia without any incident. Though it was reported in the media at the time that he was an "ex-Jew" or "non-practising Jew", he was in fact a member of a

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

, and a religious Jew throughout his life. After the abortive Saudi appointment, he was appointed British high commissioner to Tanzania in 1968 and British ambassador to Turkey in 1973, and was in post when Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974. He retired in 1977, and enjoyed a second career of ten years as resident representative for

Taylor Woodrow Taylor Woodrow was one of the largest housebuilding and general construction companies in Britain. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until its merger with rival George Wimpey to create Ta ...

. He also lectured at

Bilkent University Bilkent University ( tr, Bilkent Üniversitesi) is a private university located in Ankara, Turkey. It was founded by Prof. İhsan Doğramacı in 1984, with the aim of creating a center of excellence in higher education and research. It is constan ...

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 ...

until 1997, latterly on the history of diplomacy. Phillips was appointed CMG in 1963, and KCMG in 1973. He was married to Idina, Lady Phillips (''née'' Idina Doreen Morgan) for over 60 years. They had two children and four grown-up grandchildren, one of whom is the BBC correspondent Luisa Baldini. He authored the book "

Ihsan Dogramaci Ihsan ( ar, إحسان , also romanized ''ehsan''), is an Arabic term meaning "to do beautiful things", "beautification", "perfection", or "excellence" (Arabic: , ). Ihsan is a matter of taking one's inner faith ('' iman'') and showing it in b ...

: A Remarkable Turk" in 1997.

References

External links

''Daily Telegraph'' obituary''Interview with Sir Horace Phillips

transcript
British Diplomatic Oral History Programme, Churchill College, Cambridge, 1996 {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Horace British Jews 1917 births 2004 deaths Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Scottish Jews Dorset Regiment soldiers British Indian Army officers Indian Army personnel of World War II Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Indonesia Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Turkey High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Tanzania Members of HM Diplomatic Service Diplomats from Glasgow Military personnel from Glasgow British Army personnel of World War II 20th-century British diplomats