Francis George Kenna Gallagher (25 May 1917 – 19 April 2011) was a British Foreign Office official and diplomat.

Early life and education

Gallagher was born in London on 25 May 1917 to a middle-class Roman Catholic family. He attended

St Joseph's College, Upper Norwood St Joseph's College is a boys' secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in the Upper Norwood area of the London Borough of Croydon, England. The school is a single sex educational establishment for boys up to the age of 16 a ...

, and passed the University of London matriculation exam in 1933, gaining a place to study Law at King's College London. After graduating, Gallagher took a job as a clerical officer in the

Ministry of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

. He was promoted to a junior executive officer in August 1938, but then transferred to the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation t ...

and was made an assistant examiner. After the outbreak of the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

, Gallagher enlisted in the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

and joined Bomber Command as a Flight Lieutenant in 1941.GALLAGHER, (Francis George) Kenna
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2016)

Diplomatic career

Gallagher took the Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service, diplomatic service entrance exam immediately after being discharged in 1945 and joined the service in November of that year. His first overseas posting was as Vice-Consul in Marseilles (1946–1948). After this, he was promoted to Second Secretary and Grade Seven in the diplomatic service and transferred to the Paris embassy in 1948. Gallagher was moved back to the Foreign Office in London in 1950. He was promoted to First Secretary and sent to the British embassy in Damascus in 1953, acting as ''chargé d'affaires'' until 1955. In January 1956, Gallagher was promoted to Counsellor and made Head of the Mutual Aid Department in the Foreign Office, later renamed the European Economic Organisations Department in 1960. In this capacity he was intimately involved in Britain's first unsuccessful application to join the European Common Market under Harold Macmillan. In 1963, he was transferred to the embassy in Berne, before being moved back to London in 1965 to become Head of the Western Economic Department in the Commonwealth Office. In 1967 he became Head of the Common Market Department for a year before being promoted to Assistant Under-Secretary of State for economic affairs at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1968. His final posting was as British ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, 1971–1977.

Later life

After his retirement, Gallagher became a consultant on international trade policy for the Confederation of British Industry (1978–1980). He moved to the small village of Kirkwhelpington, near Morpeth in Northumberland, where he maintained his lifelong love of classical music. Gallagher never married and had no children. He died on 19 April 2011, aged 93 and Was buried in the graveyard at Cambo, which is a neighbouring village to Kirkwhelpington. He was survived by his manservant, Jack Young.

Honours

*Appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1963 New Year Honours.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, Kenna 1917 births 2011 deaths Alumni of King's College London Members of HM Diplomatic Service Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Permanent Representatives of the United Kingdom to the OECD 20th-century British diplomats