James Richard Cross (29 September 1921 – 6 January 2021) was an Irish-born British diplomat who served in India, Malaysia and Canada. While posted in Canada, Cross was kidnapped by members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) during the

October Crisis The October Crisis (french: Crise d'Octobre) refers to a chain of events that started in October 1970 when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cr ...

of October 1970. He was ultimately released almost two months later, and subsequently returned to the United Kingdom.

Early life and career

Cross was born in

Nenagh Nenagh (, ; or simply ''An tAonach'') meaning “The Fair of Ormond” or simply "The Fair", is the county town and second largest town in County Tipperary in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Nenagh used to be a market town, and the site of the ...

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

, Ireland, on 29 September 1921. His mother died during her labour with him. His older sibling had

intellectual disabilities Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signific ...

and was consequently

institutionalised In sociology, institutionalisation (or institutionalization) is the process of embedding some conception (for example a belief, norm, social role, particular value or mode of behavior) within an organization, social system, or society as a who ...

. Cross was raised on the family farm, which was a hundred acres in size, before moving in with relatives. He was nicknamed "Jasper" by his family and friends. Cross studied economics and political science at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, where he graduated with a

first class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

degree in 1944. It was there that he also met his wife, Barbara Dagg, who studied modern languages. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Cross served with the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and fought for the liberation of France. He was commissioned into the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

Movement Control Section in 1944. After the war, Cross joined the diplomatic service and was assigned first to

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

in 1953. His first stint in Canada commenced in 1957, when he served in Halifax and

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

for five years. He was consequently assigned to

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

for four years (in then Malaya and after 1963

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

), before going back to London in 1966 to direct the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

branch in charge of exhibitions and fairs overseas. He returned to Canada in February 1968 as the senior Trade Commissioner in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Kidnapping

On 5 October 1970, Cross was abducted at gunpoint from his British diplomatic residence at 1297 Redpath Crescent, in the

Golden Square Mile / ''Mille carré doré'' , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Neighbourhood , image_skyline = Ravenscrag.jpg , image_alt = , image_caption = '' Ravenscrag'', built for Sir Hugh Allan ...

district of Montreal, and held as a

hostage A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or ref ...

for two months as the FLQ made a series of demands to the Quebec government. During captivity, due to lack of food Cross lost 10 kg (22 lb). He was released on 3 December after 60 days in captivity. In exchange for his release, his abductors would get safe passage to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. The talks were held at the Canada Pavilion, located on

Notre Dame Island Notre Dame Island (french: Île Notre-Dame) is an artificial island in the Saint Lawrence River in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is immediately to the east of Saint Helen's Island and west of the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the city of Saint-Lambert ...

, the site of

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

. This site was declared Cuban territory for the period of the talks. Six members of the FLQ's "

Liberation Cell The Liberation Cell was a Montreal-based cell that was part of Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) revolutionary movement in Quebec whose members were responsible for a decade of bombings and armed robberies in the 1960s that led to what became ...

" were later convicted of Cross's kidnapping when they returned to Canada during the late 1970s. They received

custodial sentence A custodial sentence is a judicial sentence, imposing a punishment consisting of mandatory custody of the convict, either in prison or in some other closed therapeutic or educational institution, such as a reformatory, (maximum security) psychia ...

s ranging from 12 to 24 months. Cross said of his kidnapping: On the 40th anniversary of the day that sparked the October Crisis in 2010, Cross agreed to speak to CBC Radio's '' The Current'' about the events surrounding his kidnapping. There is also a transcript of a taped memoir online, uploaded by Churchill College.

Later life

Cross returned to the United Kingdom after his release and continued working for the civil service. However, he was no longer assigned overseas postings. Although he received a number of offers to sell his story, he did not since he was prohibited by the government from doing so. Cross went on to serve as Under-Secretary in various divisions of Britain's Department of Trade and Industry and Department of Energy. He was made a Companion of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

(CMG) in January 1971. Cross retired to

Seaford, East Sussex Seaford is a town in East Sussex, England, east of Newhaven and west of Eastbourne.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. In the Middle Ages, Sea ...

. He died at his home there on 6 January 2021. He was 99, and suffered from complications of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

during the COVID-19 pandemic in England in the time leading up to his death. Both his wife and their only child (Susan) predeceased him in 2018 and 2015, respectively.

In fiction

Cross is depicted as a character in the novel ''

The Revolution Script ''The Revolution Script'' is a fictionalised account by Northern Irish-Canadian novelist Brian Moore of key events in Quebec's October Crisis – the kidnapping by the Quebec Liberation Front of James Cross, the Senior British Trade Comm ...

'' by Brian Moore, together with

Pierre Laporte Pierre Laporte (25 February 1921 – 17 October 1970) was a Canadian lawyer, journalist and politician. He was deputy premier of the province of Quebec when he was kidnapped and murdered by members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ ...

. Their names are changed by Moore out of respect for their families. He is also featured in ''My October'' by

Claire Holden Rothman Claire Holden Rothman is a Canadian novelist, short story writer, and translator.

, and as a character in the 2006 Canadian television series '' October 1970'', played by

R.H. Thomson Robert Holmes Thomson (born 1947), known as R. H. Thomson, is a Canadian television, film, and stage actor. With a career spanning five decades he remains a regular presence on Canadian movie screens and television. He has received numerous ...

References

External links

Interview with James Richard Jasper Cross

transcript
, British Diplomatic Oral History Programme, Churchill College, Cambridge, 1996 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, James 1921 births 2021 deaths 1970s missing person cases 20th-century British diplomats British Army personnel of World War II British expatriates in Canada British expatriates in India British expatriates in Malaysia Canada–United Kingdom relations Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in England Formerly missing people Kidnapped British people Kidnapped diplomats Missing person cases in Canada October Crisis Diplomats from Dublin (city) People from Nenagh Royal Engineers officers Terrorism in Canada Irish emigrants to the United Kingdom