Sir John Burns Ure

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) ...

LVO The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

FRGS The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

(5 July 1931 – 19 September 2023) was a British diplomat who was ambassador to Cuba, Brazil and Sweden, and an author.

Life and career

John Burns Ure was born on 5 July 1931, and was educated at

Uppingham School Uppingham School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils 13-18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson (rector), Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oa ...

. After

active service Active may refer to: Music * ''Active'' (album), a 1992 album by Casiopea * Active Records, a record label Ships * ''Active'' (ship), several commercial ships by that name * HMS ''Active'', the name of various ships of the British Royal ...

as a 2nd Lieutenant with the

Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) was a rifle regiment of the British Army, the only regiment of rifles amongst the Scottish regiments of infantry. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 26th Cameronian Reg ...

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

, 1950–51, he read history at

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

before joining the

Foreign 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 o ...

in 1956. Besides various posts at the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

he was 3rd Secretary (and private secretary to the Ambassador), Moscow, 1957–59; 2nd Secretary,

Léopoldville Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

, 1962–63; First Secretary (Commercial),

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, 1967–70; Counsellor, and intermittently

Chargé d'Affaires A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...

, Lisbon, 1972–77; Ambassador to Cuba 1979–81; Ambassador to Brazil 1984–87 and Ambassador to Sweden 1987–91. During his career he attended the six-week Advanced Management Program at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

. After retiring from the Diplomatic Service, Sir John was a non-executive director of companies including

Thomas Cook Thomas Cook (22 November 1808 – 18 July 1892) was an English businessman. He is best known for founding the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son. He was also one of the initial developers of the "package tour" including travel, accommodation ...

and

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

Scandinavia, and served on the council of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

of which he was a Life Fellow. John Ure was made LVO in 1968, CMG in 1980 and knighted KCMG in 1987. In 1973 he was made a Commander in the Portuguese

Military Order of Christ The Military Order of Christ is the former order of Knights Templar as it was reconstituted in Portugal. Before 1910 it was known as the Royal Military Order of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Order of the Knights of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It was ...

. In ''Who's Who'', John Ure gives his recreation as "Travelling uncomfortably in remote places and writing about it comfortably afterwards." Sir John Ure died on 19 September 2023, at the age of 92.

Bibliography

Books

*''Cucumber Sandwiches in the Andes'', Constable, London, 1973. *''Prince Henry the Navigator'', Constable, London, 1977. *''The Trail of Tamerlane'', Constable, London, 1980. *''The Quest for Captain Morgan'', Constable, London, 1983. *''Trespassers on the Amazon'', Constable, London, 1986. *''Royal Geographical Society History of World Exploration'' (Central and South America sections), Hamlyn, London, 1991. *''A Bird on the Wing: Bonnie Prince Charlie's Flight from Culloden Retraced'', Constable, London, 1992. *''Diplomatic Bag: an Anthology of Diplomatic Incidents and Anecdotes from the Renaissance to the Gulf War'' (ed.), John Murray, London, 1994. *''The Cossacks'', Constable, London, 1999. *''In Search of Nomads: an English Obsession from Hester Stanhope to Bruce Chatwin'', Constable, London, 2003. *''Pilgrimage: the Great Adventure of the Middle Ages'', Constable, London, 2006. *contribution to ''The Seventy Great Journeys in History'' (ed.

Robin Hanbury-Tenison Airling Robin Hanbury-Tenison (born 7 May 1936) is an explorer based in Cornwall. He is President of the charity Survival International and was previously Chief Executive of The Countryside Alliance. Early life and education The youngest of fiv ...

), Thames & Hudson, London, 2006. *''Shooting Leave: Spying out Central Asia in the Great Game'', Constable, London, 2009. *contribution to ''The Great Explorers'' (ed. Robin Hanbury-Tenison), Thames & Hudson, London, 2010. *''Sabres on the Steppes: Danger, Diplomacy and Adventures in the Great Game'', Constable, London, 2012.

Book reviews

References

*
John Ure
at Little Brown, publishers

– Speakers Agency

– The Daily Telegraph {{DEFAULTSORT:Ure, John 1931 births 2023 deaths People educated at Uppingham School Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency Cameronians officers Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Cuba Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Brazil Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Sweden British writers Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Commanders of the Order of Christ (Portugal) 20th-century diplomats Country Life (magazine) people Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford