Arthur de la Mare

Arthur James de la Mare was born into a farming family in Saint John, Jersey.{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|318241556}} |title=Sir Arthur de la Mare; Obituary |work=The Times|location=London |date=5 January 1995 }} He grew up speaking the Norman French patois of his native island. He was educated at Victoria College, Jersey, then won a scholarship to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he gained a double first in modern languages.

He joined the Diplomatic Service in 1936 and was posted to Tokyo, then to Seoul in 1938. Upon his arrival in Seoul he was acting consul general, and when the vice consul promptly retired, De la Mare took on his responsibilities as well,{{cite book|author=J. E. Hoare|title=Embassies in the East: The Story of the British and Their Embassies in China, Japan and Korea from 1859 to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ZzhAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA143|date=31 October 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-79617-3|page=190}} although he had no consular training at this stage. He was later appointed head of the Far Eastern department of the Foreign Office.{{cite news |title=Personalities of the week |work=Illustrated London News |date=18 May 1963}}

Other overseas appointments included San Francisco 1947–50, Tokyo 1951–53 and Washington 1956–60. He was appointed ambassador to Afghanistan 1963–65,{{London Gazette|issue=43058 |date=19 July 1963 |page=6079 }} High Commissioner in Singapore 1968–70 and ambassador to Thailand 1970–73.{{London Gazette|issue=45233 |date=17 November 1970|page=12598 |supp=y}}

De la Mare oversaw the transition to independence from Britain whilst High Commissioner for Singapore. He expressed his anger that the British military bases on the island were handed over to the Singapore People's Action Party government.{{cite book|author1=Derek Thiam Soon Heng|author2=Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied|title=Singapore in Global History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NYczRd6N5CwC&pg=PA195|year=2011|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=978-90-485-1437-3|page=195}} His valedictory dispatches from Thailand and Singapore are included in Matthew Parris's book [https://books.google.com/books?id=BNYcUipQ04kC Parting Shots] (Penguin, 2011). In a view that was considered old-fashioned at the time, De la Mare maintained that the British Empire could be a force for good around the world.{{cite book|author1=Matthew Parris|author2=Andrew Bryson|title=Parting Shots|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BNYcUipQ04kC&pg=PT302|date=2 June 2011|publisher=Penguin Books, Limited|isbn=978-0-670-91929-1|page=302}}

De la Mare was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1957,{{London Gazette|issue=40960 |date=28 December 1956|page=5 |supp=y}} and Knight Commander of the same order (KCMG) in 1968.{{London Gazette|issue=44600 |date=31 May 1968|page=6302 |supp=y}} After the Queen's visit to Thailand in 1972 he was made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO){{London Gazette|issue=45667 |date=9 May 1972 |page=5535 }} and the King of Thailand made him a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the White Elephant.{{cite book|title=Who Was Who 1991–1995|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U174069 |year=1996|publisher=A & C Black, London|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U174069 |isbn=0-7136-4496-6}}

He lived in the 1960s and 1970s in Walton on Thames, Surrey. He had an impish sense of humour. One of his neighbours saw Sir Arthur, shabbily dressed, doing the gardening in 1965. Assuming he was a hired hand, The neighbour asked him whether he would be willing to do the gardening at his house. Sir Arthur readily agreed. It took him some weeks to reveal to his neighbour that he was the ex-ambassador to Afghanistan and a Knight of the realm.

De la Mare had retired to his native Jersey by 1991.{{cite journal|title=Islands Magazine|journal = Islands|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GTbsKuyaDMMC&pg=PA71|date=September–October 1991|page=71|issn=0745-7847}}

• de la Mare, Sir Arthur [https://books.google.com/books/about/Perverse_and_Foolish.html?id=nqvRSAAACAAJ Perverse and Foolish: A Jersey farmer's Son in the British Diplomatic Service], La Haule Books, Jersey, 1994 {{ISBN|0861200462}}

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• {{NPG name|name=Sir Arthur James de la Mare}}
• [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U174069 de la MARE, Sir Arthur (James)], Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012
• [http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=IF500686113&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0 Sir Arthur de la Mare] (obituary), The Times, London, 5 January 1995, page 21
• [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaries--sir-arthur-de-la-mare-1388933.html Obituaries : Sir Arthur de la Mare], The Independent, London, 31 December 1994

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{{s-bef |before=Sir Michael Gillett}}

{{S-ttl |title=Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Kabul |years=1963–1965}}

{{S-aft |after=Sir Gordon Whitteridge}}

{{s-bef |before=John Vernon Rob}}

{{S-ttl |title=High Commissioner to Singapore |years=1968–1970}}

{{S-aft |after=Sir Samuel Falle}}

{{s-bef |before=Sir Neil Pritchard}}

{{S-ttl |title=Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Bangkok |years=1970–1973}}

{{S-aft |after=Sir David Cole}}

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Category:1914 births

Category:1994 deaths

Category:Jersey people

Category:People educated at Victoria College, Jersey

Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge

Category:Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Afghanistan

Category:High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Singapore

Category:Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Thailand

Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George

Category:Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order