Sir Herbert Stanley Marchant KCMG

OBE 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 ...

(18 May 1906 – 8 August 1990) was a schoolmaster, at Bletchley Park the codebreaking centre in World War II, and then a diplomat. He was ambassador to Cuba (1960–63) and Tunisia (1963–66); remembered for replying to British newspapers during the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...

that “Everything is perfectly quiet here” (in Cuba). Marchant was born in Cambridge and attended

Perse School (He who does things for others does them for himself) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = Nondenominational Christian , president = , head_label = Head , he ...

, before studying modern languages at

St John’s College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...

. He was an assistant master at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

1928–39, teaching French and German, and later Russian. He was at Bletchley Park in World War II, where he was the deputy head of Hut 3 from 1943 until the end of the war. The head Eric Jones had taken over sole responsibility from 1942, after personal rivalries between the original staff of Hut 3.Briggs (2011) p 9, 76, 91-92, 136 After the war he was in the Foreign Service 1946–66. Then he became Assistant Director of the Institute of Race Relations 1966–68, and United Kingdom representative on the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 1969–73. He married Diana Selway in 1937, they had one son. He was awarded the

1946,

CMG CMG may refer to: Companies * Capitol Music Group, a music label * China Media Group, the predominant state radio and television broadcaster in the PRC * China Media Group Co., Ltd., publicly listed Chinese holding company in the media sector * ...

1957 & KCMG 1963.

Books by H.S. Marchant

*Scratch a Russian (Drummond, London, 1937) Travel in the Soviet Union *His Excellency Regrets (Kimber, London, 1980) a novel

References

*Obituary in ''The Times'', London of 13 August 1990 page 12. *''Secret Days: Code-breaking in Bletchley Park'' by

Asa Briggs Asa Briggs, Baron Briggs (7 May 1921 – 15 March 2016) was an English historian. He was a leading specialist on the Victorian era, and the foremost historian of broadcasting in Britain. Briggs achieved international recognition during his lon ...

(2011, Frontline Books, London) *Who’s Who 2013 (London) {{DEFAULTSORT:Marchant, Herbert 1906 births 1990 deaths Bletchley Park people Members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Tunisia Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Cuba Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge People educated at The Perse School Schoolteachers from Cambridgeshire English travel writers Writers about the Soviet Union British officials of the United Nations Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Officers of the Order of the British Empire Teachers at Harrow School