Sir John Christopher Blake Richmond (7 September 1909 – 6 July 1990) was a British diplomat and author specialising in Middle Eastern studies.

Biography

Richmond was born in England but spent much of his childhood in Palestine and Jordan. He returned to England in 1922 and was educated at

Lancing College Lancing College is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in southern England, UK. The school is located in West Sussex, east of Worthing near the village of Lancing, on the south coast of England. ...

, followed by

Hertford College, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main ga ...

. Following the completion of his studies he returned to the Middle East and served with British military intelligence in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq during the

Second World War 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 opposin ...

. He entered 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 was British Ambassador to

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

between 1961–1963 and

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

from 1965-1966. He retired in 1966 and joined the department of Islamic Studies at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

Works

*The Arabs of Palestine (1972) *Bahrain social and political change since the First World War (ed. with William Hale)(1976) *A commentary by Sir John Richmond on ‘The Palestinians and the PLO’, Bernard Lewis (1976) *Egypt, 1798-1952: her advance towards a modern identity (1977).

References

RICHMOND, Sir John (Christopher Blake)
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014)

External links

Personal and research papers of Sir John Richmond relating to the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict
1909 births 1990 deaths People educated at Lancing College Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Sudan Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Kuwait Academics of Durham University {{UK-diplomat-stub