Sir Donald James Dundas Maitland (16 August 192222 August 2010) was a senior British diplomat. He served as

British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern p ...

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conserv ...

's press secretary 1970 to 1974.

Early life

Donald was the son of Thomas Maitland. He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, and educated at

George Watson's College George Watson's College is a co-educational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a Scottish education in the eight ...

and the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

Career

Maitland joined the

Foreign Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

in 1947. After serving as Heath's press secretary, he was appointed as

Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations The Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative to the United Nations, and in charge of the ''United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations'' (UKMIS). UK permanen ...

. Maitland's expertise was in the Middle East where he served 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 ...

. Between 1956 and 1960 he was Director of the

Middle East Centre for Arab Studies The Middle East Centre for Arab Studies (MECAS) was an Arabic language college created by the British Army during World War II in Jerusalem, and relocated afterwards as a civilian institution to Lebanon near Beirut where it functioned between 1947� ...

, Lebanon. In 1967 he became Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary and later Ambassador to Libya. In June 1980 he was appointed

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

at the

Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-rel ...

, until his retirement from the civil service in December 1982. He was appointed OBE in 1960, CMG in 1967, knighted in 1973 and appointed

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

in 1977. In 1995, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Laws) by the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

, and was their pro-chancellor from 1997 to 2000.

Personal life

Maitland lived between Bath and

Bradford on Avon Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon or Bradford upon Avon) is a town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset, which had a population of 9,402 at the 2011 census. The town's canal, historic buildings, s ...

. He married Jean Young in 1950, and had a son and a daughter.

References

External links

Interview with Sir Donald James Dundas Maitland

transcript
British Diplomatic Oral History Programme, Churchill College, Cambridge, 1997 {{DEFAULTSORT:Maitland, Donald 1922 births 2010 deaths Civil servants from Edinburgh People educated at George Watson's College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Members of HM Diplomatic Service Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Libya Permanent Representatives of the United Kingdom to the United Nations Knights Bachelor Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Officers of the Order of the British Empire Permanent Representatives of the United Kingdom to the European Union Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Energy People associated with the University of Bath Principal Private Secretaries to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Diplomats from Edinburgh 20th-century British diplomats