Sir Patrick Robin Fearn KCMG (5 September 1934 – 26 August 2006) was a British diplomat who was ambassador to Cuba and Spain.

Career

Patrick Robin Fearn was educated at

Ratcliffe College Ratcliffe College is a coeducational Catholic independent boarding and day school near the village of Ratcliffe on the Wreake, Leicestershire, approximately from Leicester, England. The college, situated in of parkland on the Fosse Way about ...

and

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

. After

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

1952–54 he worked for

Dunlop Rubber Dunlop Ltd. (formerly Dunlop Rubber) was a British multinational company involved in the manufacture of various natural rubber goods. Its business was founded in 1889 by Harvey du Cros and he involved John Boyd Dunlop who had re-invented and d ...

in Venezuela and the Caribbean 1957–61, then joined the Diplomatic Service. Between posts at the Foreign Office (later the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...

, FCO) he served at the embassies in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, as Head of Chancery and

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

Vientiane Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...

1972–75 and as Head of Chancery and Consul General at

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

1977–79. He was head of the South America department at the FCO 1979–82, culminating in the invasion of the Falkland Islands by

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

on 2 April 1982. :From the moment of the invasion, it fell to Fearn to organise and animate - indeed, almost to invent - the emergency unit which had to manage intra-Whitehall coordination as well as to seek international support for the UK's response. He worked almost without pause for weeks on end, but remained calm, reassuring and approachable, encouraging his team by his own example as they shouldered a huge burden of work. — Obituary, ''The Guardian'' After the war Fearn spent 1983 at the

Royal College of Defence Studies The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest level ...

, writing a thesis on the Antarctic Treaty. He was

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

1984–86, assistant Under-Secretary of State (Americas) at the FCO 1986–89, and ambassador to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

1989–94. He was appointed CMG after the Falklands war and knighted KCMG during his posting to Spain. After retiring from the Diplomatic Service, Fearn was director of the Oxford University Diplomatic Studies Programme and visiting Fellow of University College 1995–99.About the Oxford University Foreign Service Programme
Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford

References

External links

FEARN, Sir (Patrick) Robin
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007
Sir Robin Fearn
(obituary), ''The Guardian'', London, 6 October 2006

(obituary), ''The Telegraph'', London, 2 October 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fearn, Robin 1934 births 2006 deaths People educated at Ratcliffe College Alumni of University College, Oxford Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Cuba Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Spain Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Fellows of University College, Oxford