John Peter Larkindale (born 1946) is a former New Zealand public servant and diplomat, whose overseas postings including ambassador to the Russian Federation and high commissioner to Australia.

Biography

Larkindale was born in Wellington in 1946, to Robert and Liesel, Jewish migrants from Germany. Larkindale was educated at

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin *Wellington College, Wellington, New Z ...

. He then studied chemistry at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

, graduating

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

and then MSc(Hons). His 1968 master's thesis, supervised by Alan Freeman, was titled ''Some intercalation compounds of boron nitride''. Larkindale was awarded an

1851 Exhibition Scholarship The 1851 Research Fellowship is a scheme conducted by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 to annually award a three-year research scholarship to approximately eight "young scientists or engineers of exceptional promise". The fellowship ...

, and he went on to complete a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

in Canada in 1971. His doctoral thesis, supervised by David J. Simkin, was titled ''Spectroscopic and theoretical studies of charge-transfer complexes''. Larkindale joined the staff of the

Ministry of Foreign 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 ...

in 1972, and had postings to New Zealand's embassies in Vienna and Washington. He then served as the director of Pacific aid, based in Wellington and, later, Tokelau official secretary. Subsequently, he was the deputy head of mission in Beijing and then London. In 1994 he was appointed executive director of the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) task force, responsible for organising the CHOGM summit held in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

the following year. In the

1996 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1996 were appointments by most of the sixteen Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other co ...

, Larkindale was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for public services. Between 1996 and 1999, Larkindale was the New Zealand ambassador to the Russian Federation. Returning to Wellington, he was appointed deputy secretary of the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade may refer to: * Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (Jamaica) * Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (New Zealand) * Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (South Korea) South Korea's Ministry of ...

. Larkindale's final diplomatic appointment was as high commissioner to Australia, in which role he served from 2006 until his retirement in 2011. Larkindale became a member of the board of the

Institute of Public Administration New Zealand The Institute of Public Administration New Zealand (IPANZ) is a voluntary public administration organisation. IPANZ states their goal is to :''"promoting improvements in public policy and in administration and management in the public sector in ...

(IPANZ) in 2012, and in March 2013 he was elected president of IPANZ.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larkindale, John 1946 births Living people People educated at Wellington College, Wellington Victoria University of Wellington alumni McGill University alumni New Zealand chemists Ambassadors of New Zealand to Russia Ambassadors of New Zealand to Ukraine High commissioners of New Zealand to Australia Companions of the Queen's Service Order