Sir Anthony Rumbold, 10th Baronet (7 March 1911 – 4 December 1983) was a British

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 ...

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 ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Early life

Horace Anthony Claude Rumbold, son of

Sir Horace Rumbold, 9th Baronet Sir Horace George Montagu Rumbold, 9th Baronet, (5 February 1869 – 24 May 1941) was a British diplomat. A well-travelled man who learned Arabic, Japanese language, Japanese and German language, German, he is largely remembered for his role a ...

, was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, and was for a short time a Fellow of

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

, before joining the

Diplomatic 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 ...

in 1935.

Career

Rumbold began his career in 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 and was posted to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, in 1937. He returned to the Foreign Office in 1942 before being posted to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in 1944 to the staff of the Minister Resident at

Allied Headquarters Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ) was the headquarters that controlled all Allied operational forces in the Mediterranean theatre of World War II from August 1942 until the end of the war in Europe in May 1945. AFHQ was established in the Uni ...

in the Mediterranean,

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as "Supermac", he ...

. He moved to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in 1947, returned to the Foreign Office again in 1949 as head of the Southern Europe department with the rank of Counsellor, and was posted to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1951 with the same rank. In March 1954 he was appointed

principal private secretary A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family. The role exists in t ...

(PPS) to the

Foreign Secretary The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...

Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achieving rapid promo ...

. He accompanied Eden on several overseas visits including the Geneva Conference in May 1954, Eden and

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

's trip to Washington in June for talks with the Secretary of State (

John Foster Dulles John Foster Dulles (, ; February 25, 1888 – May 24, 1959) was an American diplomat, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. He served as United States Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959 and was briefly ...

) and President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

, and a tour of European capitals in September 1954. When Churchill resigned and Eden became

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

in April 1955, Rumbold remained for a few months as PPS to the new Foreign Secretary, Harold Macmillan, accompanying him to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in June 1955 for talks between the Foreign Ministers of the United States, Britain, France and Russia in preparation for the Geneva Summit in the following month. Rumbold left the Foreign Office for a time, then returned, and was an assistant

Under-Secretary of State Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a Minister o ...

1957–60, responsible for European and east–west relations. Again he accompanied the Foreign Secretary, now

Selwyn Lloyd John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd, Baron Selwyn-Lloyd, (28 July 1904 – 18 May 1978) was a British politician. Born and raised in Cheshire, he was an active Liberal as a young man in the 1920s. In the following decade, he practised as a barrister and s ...

, in international talks including Eisenhower's visit to England in August 1959, and was British representative on working groups preparing for the frequent top-level conferences at that time, including the

1960 Paris Summit On 1 May 1960, a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defence Forces while conducting photographic aerial reconnaissance deep inside Soviet territory. The single-seat aircraft, flown by American pilot Francis Gary Power ...

which failed because of the

U-2 incident On 1 May 1960, a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defence Forces while conducting photographic aerial reconnaissance deep inside Soviet territory. The single-seat aircraft, flown by American pilot Francis Gary Power ...

just before the summit took place. In June 1960 Rumbold was appointed Minister in Paris (under the ambassador, Sir Pierson Dixon); ''The Times'' suggested that he could have been appointed as ambassador in a smaller mission if he had not chosen to remain on the "inner circuit" of major capitals. In 1965 he was appointed Ambassador to Thailand; while he was there he was also UK representative on the Council of

SEATO The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, the Philipp ...

. In 1967 he received his final appointment as Ambassador to Austria. He retired from the Diplomatic Service in 1970.

Honours

Anthony Rumbold was appointed CMG in the 1953 Coronation Honours when he was Counsellor at the Embassy in Paris and CB in the

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are present ...

of 1955 for his work as PPS to the Foreign Secretary. He was knighted KCMG in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1962 and KCVO in 1969. The Norwegian government made him Commander of the Order of St. Olav in 1955 and the Austrian government gave him the Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...

in 1969.

Personal life

Anthony Rumbold inherited the Rumbold baronetcy on the death of his father,

, in 1941 (thus becoming Sir Anthony long before he would have acquired the title through knighthood). In 1937 he married Felicity Ann Bailey (whose maternal grandfather was the 1st Earl of Inchcape) at

St Margaret's, Westminster The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey, is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminster a ...

. They had three daughters and one son, who inherited the baronetcy as Sir Henry Rumbold, 11th Baronet. Anthony Rumbold's

best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony and performs the first speech at the wedding. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be ...

at his wedding was his friend and fellow-diplomat Donald Maclean who was much later revealed to be a Soviet spy, which led to suspicions that Rumbold might have been the so-called "Fifth Man" in the spy ring which included Maclean. In 1974 Sir Anthony and Lady Rumbold were divorced, and he married Mrs Pauline Graham, whose first husband had been the

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

and

ethnographer Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

Julian Pitt-Rivers Julian Alfred Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers (16 March 1919 – 12 August 2001) was a British social anthropologist, an ethnographer, and a professor at universities in three countries. Family background Pitt-Rivers was a great-grandson of the archaeologi ...

. They had no children; she died in 2008.Pauline, Lady Rumbold: Actress and poet born into bohemian high society
''The Independent'', London, 13 December 2008

Offices held

References

RUMBOLD, Sir (Horace) Anthony (Claude)
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007, accessed 9 June 2012 *Sir Anthony Rumbold, obituary, ''The Times'', London, 6 December 1983, page 16 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rumbold, Anthony 1911 births 1983 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Fellows of The Queen's College, Oxford Principal Private Secretaries to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Thailand Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Austria Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Companions of the Order of the Bath Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain