Christopher Curwen
{{Short description|British Intelligence officer}}
{{For|the politician|Christopher Curwen (MP)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox spy
|honorific_prefix = Sir
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCMG}}
| name = Christopher Curwen
| image = File:Christopher Curwen.jpg
| caption =
| allegiance = United Kingdom 20px
| service = Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6)
| serviceyears =
| rank = Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service
| operation =
| awards = KCMG
| birth_date = {{birth date|1929|4|9|df=y}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|2013|12|18|1929|4|9|df=y}}
| death_place =
| nationality = British
| occupation =Intelligence officer
| alma_mater = Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
}}
Sir Christopher Keith Curwen, {{post-nominals|size=100%|KCMG}} (9 April 1929 – 18 December 2013) was a British Intelligence officer specialising in South East Asia who was Head of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1985 to 1989.
Career
Curwen was educated at Sherborne School and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge after which he was commissioned into the 4th Queen's Own Hussars in 1948, serving in Malaya.[http://www.burkespeerage.com/familyhomepage.aspx?FID=0&FN=CURWEN Burke's Peerage and Gentry]{{Cite news|date=27 December 2013|title=Sir Christopher Curwen obituary|work=The Times|issue=71078|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/sir-christopher-curwen-f8dfc5t9r5m}} He joined SIS in 1952 and was posted to Thailand in 1954 and Vientiane, Laos in 1956. He returned to the service's London headquarters in 1958, had another spell in Bangkok from 1961 and then two years in Kuala Lumpur. He was at one time married to a woman from Burma;{{Cite web |date=2013-12-26 |title=Sir Christopher Curwen |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/sir-christopher-curwen-f8dfc5t9r5m |access-date=2024-10-09 |website=www.thetimes.com |language=en}} they were later divorced.
Curwen spent three years as SIS liaison officer in Washington D.C. from 1968 and was then head of station in Geneva.MI6 - 50 years of Special Operations, by Stephen Dorril, Page 753, Harper Collins, 2001, {{ISBN|1-85702-701-9}} He was deputy to Sir Colin Figures from 1980 and succeeded him as Chief of the Service in 1985.[http://www.cloakeddagger.com/ Cloaked Dagger] His tenure was notable for the successful exfiltration from Moscow of the KGB officer and British agent Oleg Gordievsky.{{Cite news|date=23 December 2013|title=Sir Christopher Curwen obituary|work=The Daily Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10536155/Sir-Christopher-Curwen-obituary.html}}
His obituary in The Times noted: "He possessed a romantic patriotism that belied his hard-headed persona."
References
{{reflist|30em}}
Notes
- Sir Christopher Curwen entry in Who's Who
- Curwen entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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{{succession box |
before=Sir Colin Figures|
title=Chief of the SIS |
years=1985–1989|
after=Sir Colin McColl|
}}
{{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Curwin, Christopher}}
Category:Civil servants in the Cabinet Office
Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Category:People educated at Sherborne School
Category:Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
Category:Chiefs of the Secret Intelligence Service
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