Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen

Sir Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull-Hugessen KCMG (26 March 1886 – 21 March 1971) was a British diplomat, civil servant and author.

The son of the Reverend Reginald Bridges Knatchbull-Hugessen and his wife Rachel Mary (née Montgomery), he was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1907.

In 1908, he joined the Foreign Office. He served in the Contraband Department during the First World War and then served on the British Delegation to the Versailles Conference, for which he was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1920 New Year Honours. [LondonGazette |issue=31712 |date=30 December 1919 |startpage=5 |supp=yes]

In 1918, the Foreign Service and the Diplomatic Service merged, and Knatchbull-Hugessen became eligible for foreign postings. He went to The Hague as First Secretary, followed by Paris and Brussels. In 1930 he was appointed Minister to the Baltic Republics, resident at Riga. In 1934 he was transferred to the same post in Tehran, Persia.

In 1936, Knatchbull-Hugessen was appointed British Ambassador to China. The following year, his car was machine-gunned by a Japanese fighter aircraft, and he was hit. Invalided home to Britain, he narrowly escaped paralysis.

In 1939, having taken over a year to recover from his wound, he was appointed Ambassador to Turkey. During his time in Ankara, his Albanian valet Elyesa Bazna regularly opened his mail and safe, passing any useful information on to German High Command. In 1944, he was appointed British Ambassador to Belgium, a post he held until his retirement in 1947.

He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1936.

On 16 July 1912, he married Mary Gilmour, daughter of Brigadier-General Robert Gilmour. They had three children, one son and two daughters.

Works

*"Diplomat in Peace and War" (1949)
*"Kentish Family" (1960)

Footnotes

References

*Obituary, "The Times", 23 March 1971
*cite web | url= http://www.thepeerage.com/p14862.htm#i148614| title= thePeerage| accessdate= 2006-12-04