Sir Thomas Hildebrand Preston, 6th Baronet,
OBE (2 June 1886 – 30 December 1976) was a British diplomat and 6th
Baronet of Beeston St Lawrence,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
. He was awarded the
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in 1934.
Life
Thomas Hildebrand Preston was born in
Epping, Essex
Epping is a market town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of the County of Essex, England. The town is northeast from the centre of London, is surrounded by the northern end of Epping Forest, and on a ridge of land between the Riv ...
, the son of William Thomas Preston and Alice Mary Stevens. He emigrated to New Zealand with his father who started farming at
Timaru
Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...
, and then was educated at
Westminster School
(God Gives the Increase)
, established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, head_label = Hea ...
and undertook Russian studies at
Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...
. He later studied at the
Ecole des Sciences Politiques, Paris, and the
University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...
. Preston lost an eye due to a school cricket injury and wore a monocle over his good eye.
Career
Around 1910, he joined the
British Diplomatic Service
His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (HMDS) is the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, dealing with foreign affairs and representing British interests overseas, as opposed to the Home Civil Service, which ...
. On 23 May 1913, he was appointed British Vice-Consul in
Ekaterinburg in Russia. On 29 July 1916, he was appointed his government's consul for
Perm
Perm or PERM may refer to:
Places
*Perm, Russia, a city in Russia
** Permsky District, the district
**Perm Krai, a federal subject of Russia since 2005
**Perm Oblast, a former federal subject of Russia 1938–2005
**Perm Governorate, an administra ...
, the West Siberian government in
Tobolsk
Tobolsk (russian: Тобо́льск) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1590, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, an ...
and the
Akmolinsk
Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan.
The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, thou ...
Territory – still with his official residence in Ekaterinburg. When this city was evacuated on 13 July 1919 in the course of the
Russian Civil War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Russian Civil War
, partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I
, image =
, caption = Clockwise from top left:
{{flatlist,
*Soldiers ...
, Preston also left. In October 1919, he was transferred to
Vladivostok
Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...
to perform intelligence duties. On 30 October 1919, he was appointed as the new consul there. He was then employed for a time in the Overseas Trade Department of the
British Foreign Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...
in London.
On 4 August 1922, Preston was assigned to the British Trade Mission then posted to Moscow. After the conclusion of the same, he was appointed as the new British Consul in Petrograd/Leningrad in November 1922. Following the temporary severance of his homeland's diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1927, he left on 3 June 1927, being transferred instead to the post of consul in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...
, which he held from 23 September 1927 to 3 July 1929.
During World War II
On 31 July 1929 (taking up duty on 7 December 1929), Preston took up the post of British Consul to the
Lithuanian government in
Kaunas, which he retained for ten years. In this position he was promoted to Secretary 2nd Class on 10 February 1930, Secretary 1st Class on 17 July 1935 and Counsellor in the Diplomatic Service on 1 December. He was appointed Officer of the
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(O.B.E.) in 1934. On 12 June 1940, he was promoted to
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
An envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, usually known as a minister, was a diplomatic head of mission who was ranked below ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy was known as a legation rather than an embassy. Under the ...
.
In this position, he provided 800 Jews with legal travel certificates, a few hundred of which were able to cross the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...
to neutral Sweden. He also assisted an additional four hundred
Lithuanian Jews
Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent are ...
to escape to
Mandatory Palestine
Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...
in 1940 by issuing them illegal Palestine certificates, thus enabling them to leave for the Middle East via Turkey.
["UK’s Special Envoy for post-Holocaust issues visited Lithuania", ''Mirage News'', October 19, 2019]
/ref> This was irregular, as it greatly exceeded the number approved by the British government for immigrants to Palestine. Preston's efforts were recognized in 2017 with the British Hero of the Holocaust medal and in 2018 in the British Embassy Vilnius exhibition "Building Bridges",[ and in 2022 at the Kaunas Holocaust Memorial Day.
In 1940, Preston was placed on '' The Black Book'' (G.B. special wanted list), a list of 2820 persons who were to be arrested automatically and as a priority by special units of the SS in the event of a German occupation of the country.
In September 1940, he was transferred to ]Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
on the occasion of the dissolution of his previous post in connection with the military developments of the time. From 18 June 1941 to 1948, he held the post of Counsellor in the Diplomatic Service at the British Embassy in Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
. He retired in 1948.
Later life
He married Ella Henrietta von Shickandantz on 3 October 1913. He studied harmony, counterpoint and orchestration under noted Russian musicians. In 1937 he wrote ''White Roses'', a ballet in one act, that was performed at the Kaunas State Theatre
The National Kaunas Drama Theatre (NKDT), formerly Kaunas State Drama Theatre, is a theatre and theatre company in Kaunas, Lithuania. The company is the oldest professional theatre troupe in Lithuania, founded in 1920 at the building now known ...
, as well as a piano score for a second ballet, ''The Dwarf Grenadier''. In 1958, Preston composed a ceremonial march originally meant to accompany visitors to NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
headquarters at the Palais de Chaillot
The Palais de Chaillot () is a building at the top of the in the Trocadéro area in the 16th ''arrondissement'' of Paris, France.
For the Exposition Internationale of 1937, the old 1878 Palais du Trocadéro was partly demolished and partly ...
, Paris.
Before his appointment to Lithuania, Preston had worked as a gold prospector in the Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...
. He wrote the book ''Before the Curtain'' (1950). He succeeded as the 6th Baronet Preston, of Beeston St Lawrence, Norfolk on 7 December 1963.
Preston's papers are held at the University of Leeds
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
Special Collections."Sir Thomas Preston papers", Jisc
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Preston, Thomas Hildebrand
1886 births
1976 deaths
20th-century British diplomats
Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Sciences Po alumni
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom