Hugh Foot
 Hugh Foot    (diplomat) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 8 October 1907 Southampton, United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 5 September 1990 (Age 82) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | UK | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Cambridge University/St John's College | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Siblings | • Dingle Foot • John Foot • Michael Foot | ||||||||||||||||||||||
British colonial administrator and Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
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Hugh Mackintosh Foot, Baron Caradon was a British colonial administrator and diplomat who was Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations and the last governor of Cyprus, where he oversaw a counterinsurgency campaign against the liberation movement. Foot was an active freemason.[1]
Background
Hugh Mackintosh Foot was born in Plymouth on 8 October 1907. He was educated at Leighton Park School in Reading, Berkshire, and went on to study at St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1929.[2] He was President of the Cambridge Union and also of the Cambridge University Liberal Club. His three politically active brothers, Dingle, John and Michael, were all educated at Oxford and all became Presidents of the Oxford Union.
Career
Hugh Foot's career in the diplomatic service was both long and distinguished. In Mandatory Palestine, he served as the assistant district commissioner for the Nablus region.[3] During the Second World War he was appointed as British Military Administrator of Cyrenaica, and served as Colonial Secretary of Cyprus from 1943 to 1945. After the War, he served as Colonial Secretary of Jamaica, 1945–47, Chief Secretary for Nigeria, 1947–50 and was appointed to be the Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of Jamaica in 1951,[4] a post he held until 1957.
He returned to Cyprus as the last colonial Governor and Commander in Chief in 1957[5] until 1960, when Cyprus gained independence. In 1961, he became British Ambassador to the United Nations Trusteeship Council. After the Labour Party won the 1964 general election, Foot became Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Permanent Representatives from the United Kingdom to the United Nations from 1964 to 1970. During his tenure as Permanent Representative, he was sworn of the Privy Council in the 1968 New Year Honours.[6] After his retirement, he became a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University and Princeton University.
In 1964 Foot was granted a life peerage as Baron Caradon, of St Cleer in the County of Cornwall,[7] the title referring to Caradon Hill on Bodmin Moor, not far from Trematon Castle, which was his country home. He jokingly claimed to be glad to be divested of the surname "Foot", which he considered a standing invitation to wags, as he liked to illustrate by recalling a telegram his father received on his election to parliament: "Foot, congratulations on your feat!"
References
- ↑ Power of the Masons - Myth of Menace?". Sunday People. 13 July 1986.
- ↑ http://www.thepeerage.com/p19110.htm#i191099
- ↑ Samuel, E.H. A Lifetime in Jerusalem: The Memoirs of the Second Viscount Samuel. Transaction Publishers. p. 131.
- ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39166/page/1226
- ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/41246/page/7115
- ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/44484/supplement/1
- ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/43475/page/9125
