Sir Alexander Lees Mayall (14 September 1915 – 27 December 1992) was a British diplomat who served as Vice-

Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps His Majesty's Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps is a senior member of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. He is the King's link with the diplomatic community in London, arranges the annual diplomatic corps reception by th ...

. Mayall was born in

Atcham Atcham is a village, ecclesiastical parish and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It lies on the B4380 (once the A5), 5 miles south-east of Shrewsbury. The River Severn flows round the village. To the south is the village of Cross Houses and ...

, Shropshire, the son of Alexander Mayall, of Bealings End,

Woodbridge, Suffolk Woodbridge is a port and market town in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is up the River Deben from the sea. It lies north-east of Ipswich and forms part of the wider Ipswich built-up area. The town is close to some major a ...

, by his wife Isobel Margaret, daughter of Frederick James Roberts Hendy, Director of Education at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. The Mayall family were minor Lancashire gentry since the late eighteenth century.Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952, p. 1747, 'Mayall, formerly of Mossley' After Eton and

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

, Mayall joined the Foreign Office and was promoted to Third Secretary in 1940. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1964 while serving at the British embassy in Lisbon. From 1940 to 1965 he was en poste in British Embassies in Switzerland, Egypt, France, Japan, Portugal and Ethiopia as well as serving stints in the UK. He served as Vice-Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps between 1965 and 1972, and was invested as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in recognition of his services. In 1973 he was appointed British Ambassador to Venezuela. After he retired to Wiltshire in 1975 he published his memoirs entitled Fireflies in Amber published by Michael Russell (Publishing) Ltd, The Chantry, Wilton, Salisbury. In 1940, Mayall married Renee Eileen, daughter of Sir (Roland) Clive Wallace Burn, K.C.V.O.; they had a daughter, and divorced in 1947. He married secondly, on 24 January 1947, Hon. Mary Hermione Ormsby-Gore, formerly wife of Capt. Robin Francis Campbell, D.S.O., and daughter of

William Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech William George Arthur Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech, (11 April 1885 – 14 February 1964), was a British Conservative politician and banker. Background Harlech, the son of George Ormsby-Gore, 3rd Baron Harlech, and Lady Margaret Gordon, daug ...

by his wife Lady Beatrice Edith Mildred Gascoyne-Cecil. They had a son and two daughters. Mayall was a friend and neighbour of the writer

Anthony Powell Anthony Dymoke Powell ( ; 21 December 1905 – 28 March 2000) was an English novelist best known for his 12-volume work ''A Dance to the Music of Time'', published between 1951 and 1975. It is on the list of longest novels in English. Powell' ...

, featuring regularly in his Journals.Anthony Powell Journals 1982-1986, Heinemann, 1995, p. 300.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayall, Lees 1915 births 1992 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford British diplomats Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order