Sir Edward Emile Tomkins (16 November 1915 – 20 September 2007) 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 ...

, who served as

British Ambassador to the Netherlands The British Ambassador to the Netherlands is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in the Netherlands, and head of the UK's diplomatic mission in the Netherlands. The official title is ''His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to ...

from 1970 to 1972, and British Ambassador to France from 1972 to 1975. He owned

Winslow Hall Winslow Hall is a country house, now in the centre of the small town of Winslow, Buckinghamshire, England. Built in 1700, it was sited in the centre of the town, with a public front facing the highway and a garden front that still commanded i ...

in Winslow, Buckinghamshire, often attributed to

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...

, from 1959.

Biography

Tomkins was the son of Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Leith Tomkins and his French wife, and was raised partly in France and thus grew up speaking perfect French. He was educated at Ampleforth College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He joined the Diplomatic Service in 1939. After joining the Army in 1940 during World War II, he served as a liaison officer with the Free French Forces in the Middle East. He was captured by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Field Marshal

Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...

in 1941 while making his way back to British lines from the battle of Bir Hakeim with French General

Marie Pierre Kœnig Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in T ...

. He was imprisoned in

Camp 41 Camp may refer to: Outdoor accommodation and recreation * Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site * a temporary settlement for nomads * Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descri ...

, a

prisoner-of-war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

camp near Parma in northern Italy, alongside

Pat Gibson Patrick Gibson (born 19 July 1961) is an Irish quizzer. On 24 April 2004 he became the fourth contestant to win the £1m jackpot on the quiz show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. He is a multiple world champion in quizzing and one of the wo ...

and

Nigel Strutt Sir Nigel Edward Strutt DL TD (18 January 1916 – 28 January 2004) was the chairman of the Strutt & Parker (Farms) Ltd firm of agricultural property consultants, land agents and farm managers. He farmed in Essex and Suffolk. He was a Depu ...

. Strutt was repatriated on medical grounds, and Gibson and Tomkins were moved to another camp. He and Gibson escaped from the new camp, and spent 81 days walking south to

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

, crossing the

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

and German lines, to return to

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

-held territory. He was awarded the French

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

for his services. He returned to the Diplomatic Service in 1944, and was posted to Moscow until 1946. He returned to Whitehall in 1948, to become Assistant Private Secretary 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 ...

, serving under Ernest Bevin and then Herbert Morrison. He was

First Secretary First Secretary may refer to: * First minister, a leader of a government * Secretary (title), a leader of a political party (especially Communist parties), trade union, or other organization * First Secretary (diplomatic rank), a role within an emba ...

in Washington, D.C. in 1951, then in Paris from 1955, in charge of press relations. In Paris, he met Gillian Benson, daughter of Air Commodore C.E. Benson. They married in 1955. He was appointed CVO in 1957, and CMG in 1960. After another period in London, he was

Minister Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

in Bonn, where he befriended Claus von Amsberg (later husband of Princess and then Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands). He returned to Washington as Minister in 1967. Advanced to KCMG in 1969, he was

Head of Mission In diplomatic usage, head of mission (HOM) or chief of mission (COM) from the French "chef de mission diplomatique" (CMD) is the head of a diplomatic representation, such as an ambassador, high commissioner, nuncio, chargé d'affaires, permane ...

and Ambassador at The Hague from 1970 to 1972, and then replaced Christopher Soames as Ambassador to France in 1972. Agence France Presse lauded his appointment an historic breakthrough in Franco-British relations – the first fluent speaker of French and Roman Catholic to hold the position, together with a record of service with the Free French Forces in North Africa. He also spoke excellent German and Italian. Supported by British Prime Minister Edward Heath, Tomkins took a leading role in the negotiations for Britain to join the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

in 1973. He established friendly personal and working relationships with two

French presidents The president of France is the head of state of France. The first officeholder is considered to be Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, who was elected in 1848 and provoked the 1851 self-coup to later proclaim himself emperor as Napoleon III. His coup, w ...

, Georges Pompidou and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. He retired on leaving Paris in 1975, advanced to GCMG. He became a Grand Officier of the Légion d'honneur in 1984. Tomkins lived at the

-designed

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

. He bought the derelict and about-to-be-demolished house in 1959, and he and his wife carefully restored it. They lived there from 1975 after he retired from service. Sir Edward offered the house for sale in May 2007, four months before his death, for £3,000,000, comprising six bedroom suites, two self-contained flats and surrounded by of land. He was elected as a Conservative member of Buckinghamshire County Council from 1977 to 1985, and became a governor of

Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster ...

. In 1955 Tomkins married Gillian Benson, a daughter of Air-Commodore Constantine Benson by his wife Lady Morvyth Benson, a daughter of

William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley, (25 May 1867 – 29 June 1932), was a British aristocrat, politician, and military officer who served as the fourth Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1908 to 1911. He was previously Lord Lieut ...

. They had three children, a son and two daughters. Lady Tomkins died in 2003. Sir Edward Tomkins died at the age of 91 in 2007, and was survived by his three children.

Biography

References

Further reading