Sir Alan Bedford Urwick (2 May 1930 – 8 December 2016) was a British diplomat, who served as

Serjeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons The Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons is a parliamentary official responsible for order in the House of Commons. The office dates to 1415 and traditionally included responsibility for security. The role is now mainly ceremonial. The Hou ...

from 1989 to 1995.

Early life

Alan Bedford Urwick was born on 2 May 1930, in London. He was the younger of the two children, of Lt. Col. Lyndall Fownes Urwick and Joan Wilhelmina Saunders (''née'' Bedford). Lyndall F. Urwick was one of the British pioneers of

scientific management Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineer ...

prior to the Second World War. In 1934, he set up his own management consultancy practice, Urwick, Orr & Partners. Alan Urwick was educated at Dragon School in Oxford, and then at Rugby School in Warwickshire. Alan Urwick graduated from

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, obtaining a first in Modern History in 1952.

Career

MI6

Foreign Office

Urwick joined the British diplomatic service in 1952 and undertook tours of duty in Western Europe, the Middle East, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. He served as the United Kingdom's

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 Jordan (1979–1984) and to Egypt (1985–1987), and was the British High Commissioner in Canada (1987–1989). He left the diplomatic service in 1989.

Serjeant-at-Arms

He then served as

Serjeant-at-Arms A serjeant-at-arms, or sergeant-at-arms, is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word "serjeant" is derived from the Latin ''serviens'', which means "servant". Historically, s ...

of the House of Commons until his retirement in 1995.

Retirement and death

In retirement, Urwick served as the Chairman of the Anglo-Jordanian Society from 1997 to 2001. He arranged for a memorial service to be held at

St. Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Gr ...

following the death of King Hussein of Jordan in 1999. Urwick died on 8 December 2016, at the age of 86, at his home in Slaugham, West Sussex. A memorial service was held at St. Margaret's Church in Westminster Abbey on 19 October 2017.

Personal life

Urwick married Marta Montagne, the daughter of the Peruvian ambassador to Lebanon, in 1960 in Beirut. They had three sons together, Christopher, Richard, and Michael. Urwick spoke fluent

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, and Arabic. Urwick was a member of the Garrick Club and an honorary member of the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants.