Sir Roger Bentham Stevens,
GCMG (8 June 1906 – 20 February 1980) was a British
academic,
diplomat
A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...
and
civil servant
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
.
Life
Stevens was born 8 June 1906. He 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 ...
and
Queen's College, Oxford.
[‘STEVENS, Sir Roger Bentham’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016] He married his first wife, Constance Hallam Hipwell (died 1976), in 1931, and they later had a son, Bryan Constant Sebastian Bentham Stevens. His second wife was Jane Chandler (née Irving), whom he married in 1977. He died on 20 February 1980, and she deposited his papers in the Churchill Archives,
University of Cambridge in 1984.
[Churchill Archives Centre]
The papers of Sir Roger Stevens
/ref>
Diplomatic career
In 1928 Stevens entered the UK Consular Service, serving in Buenos Aires, New York City, Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, , Denver, and 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 ...
in London.
In 1951 he was appointed British 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 ...
to Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, then in 1954, British Ambassador to Persia. He wrote two books on Persia, ''The Land of the Great Sophy'' (1962) and ''First View of Persia'' (1964), and continued to contribute to academic journals on the same subject in later life. In 1958 he returned to London as Deputy Under-Secretary of State, Foreign Office, until 1963.[
]
Other activities
In 1963 he took up the position of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds which he held until 1970.[University of Leeds]
Former Vice-Chancellors Other positions were:[
*Advisor to First Secretary of State on Central Africa, 1963–1970
*Chairman of Yorkshire and Humberside Economic Planning Council, 1965–1970,
*Panel of Inquiry into ]Greater London Development Plan
The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...
member, 1970–1972,
*Chairman of the Committee on Mineral Planning Control, 1972–1974,
* United Nations Administrative Tribunal ( UNAT) member, 1972–1977.
Honours
Stevens was a KCMG and later GCMG.[London Gazette 1 January 1964]
/ref>
He is commemorated in the Roger Stevens Building on the campus of Leeds University.
References
*D. Wright (1981) ''Iran'', Vol. 19, pp. iii–iv ''Sir Roger Stevens, G.C.M.G.''
1906 births
1980 deaths
People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire
Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford
Vice-Chancellors of the University of Leeds
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Iran
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Sweden
British expatriates in Argentina
British expatriates in the United States
British expatriates in Belgium
{{UK-academic-stub