Con O'Neill (diplomat)

Sir Con O'Neill, (3 June 1912 - 11 January 1988), was a British civil servant and diplomat. He led the British delegation which negotiated the country's entry to the European Economic Community.^[1]

O'Neill was the second son of Ulster Unionist M.P. Hugh O'Neill, 1st Baron Rathcavan. He studied first at Eton, then at Balliol College, Oxford. He gained a fellowship at All Souls in 1935 before joining the Diplomatic Service in 1936.

In 1939, with the outbreak of World War II, he entered the Army Intelligence Corps. He joined the German Section of the Political Warfare Executive, during which time he would interrogate Hitler's former deputy, Rudolf Hess.^[2] He left the army for the Foreign Office in 1943. During 1946 an 1947 he was a leader writer for the Times. He re-entered the foreign service in 1948.^[3]

His daughter Onora is now Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve.

References

1. ^ Who Was Who. A&C Black. January 2007. 
2. ^ Sir David Hannay (September 2000). Britain's Entry into the European Community. ISBN 0714651176. 
3. ^ Roy Denman, ‘O'Neill, Sir Con Douglas Walter (1912–1988)’, rev., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004

Persondata
Name	Oneill, Con
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	3 June 1912
Place of birth
Date of death	11 January 1988
Place of death