John Kennett Starnes (February 5, 1918 – December 23, 2014) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

civil servant, diplomat, and novelist. Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

to Henry Kennett Starnes and his wife, Altha Ella (née McCrea), Starnes was educated at

Selwyn House School Selwyn House School (SHS) is an English-language Independent school, independent K-11 boys' school located in Westmount, Quebec. The school was founded in 1908 by Englishman Captain Algernon Lucas and was named in honour of Selwyn College, Cambr ...

Trinity College School Trinity College School (TCS) is a co-educational, independent boarding and day school located in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. TCS was founded on May 1, 1865, more than two years before Canadian Confederation. It includes a Senior School ...

, the Institute Sillig in Switzerland, the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

and

Bishop's University Bishop's University (french: Université Bishop's) is a small English-language liberal arts university in Lennoxville, a borough of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The founder of the institution was the Anglican Bishop of Quebec, George Mountain, w ...

where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he served with the

Black Watch The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regime ...

, the

Canadian Intelligence Corps The Canadian Intelligence Corps (C Int C) is a component within the Canadian Armed Forces' Intelligence Branch, consisting of all members of that branch who wear army uniform. Prior to the 1968 unification of the Canadian Forces, it was an ad ...

(1941), the Canadian War Staff College (1942), and the 21st Army Group in the United Kingdom. He was discharged in 1944 with the rank of captain. After the War, Starnes joined the Public Service of Canada in the

Department of External Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

; he was with External Affairs from 1944 to 1970. He and his wife, fellow Montrealer Helen Gordon (née Robinson), began their diplomatic service abroad at the Canadian Embassy in Bonn from 1953 and from 1956 to 1958 at the NATO secretariat in Paris. The same year, the pair returned to Ottawa, with Mr. Starnes again working in intelligence for External Affairs. He was appointed Canadian Ambassador to the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

from 1962 to 1966 and Ambassador to Egypt and Sudan from 1966–67, when he oversaw the withdrawal of the Canadian contingent of the UN Emergency Force set up after the Suez Crisis. From 1967 to 1970 he was Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs. He resigned from the Public Service in 1970 and was appointed Director General, Security and Intelligence Directorate for the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

. He retired in 1973. He is the author of ''Deep Sleepers'' (1981), ''Scarab'' (1982), ''Orion's Belt'' (1983), ''The Cornish Hug'' (1985), and ''Latonya'' (1994). His memoir, ''Closely Guarded: A Life in Canadian Security and Intelligence'' was published by the

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university cale ...

in 1998. His sons are Colin Starnes and Patrick Starnes.

References

External links

John Kennett Starnes
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Starnes, John 1918 births 2014 deaths Ambassadors of Canada to Egypt Ambassadors of Canada to Sudan Ambassadors of Canada to West Germany Bishop's University alumni Canadian memoirists Canadian male novelists Writers from Montreal 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian male writers Canadian male non-fiction writers