Master of None

Rather than my personal autobiography this book, written in response to family requests, is a partial record of our family’s origins and of our more recent relatives, followed by recollections of my life, intended primarily for a family readership.

My life has been one neither of great achievement nor great distinction, but a story of a Cornish family and normal human frailty. What is perhaps unusual is the variety of my experiences and the different occupations I have been fortunate enough to be able to follow during a period of great social, political and technological change. As a diplomat, my influence was confined largely to footnotes to history, but I was able to witness a number of interesting events, on some of which I have cast a personal light.