Miles Lampson, 1st Baron Killearn

The Right Honourable The Lord Killearn GCMG CB MVO PC
His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to Egypt and the Sudan
In office 1936–1946
Preceded by	Himself (as UK High Commissioner)
Succeeded by	Sir Ronald Ian Campbell
His Britannic Majesty's High Commissioner to Egypt and the Sudan
In office 1934–1936
Preceded by	Sir Percy Loraine
Succeeded by	Himself (as UK Ambassador)
Personal details
Born	Miles Wedderburn Lampson 24 August 1880
Died	18 September 1964 (aged 84)

Miles Wedderburn Lampson, 1st Baron Killearn, GCMG, CB, MVO, PC (24 August 1880 – 18 September 1964) was a British diplomat.

Background and education

Miles Lampson was the son of Norman Lampson, and grandson of Sir Curtis Lampson, 1st Baronet. His mother was Helen, daughter of Peter Blackburn, MP for Stirlingshire. He was educated at Eton.

Diplomatic career

Miles Lampson, British Minister to China by Sapajou (1926)

Lampson entered the Foreign Office in 1903. He served as Secretary to Garter Mission, Japan, in 1906, as 2nd Secretary at Tokyo, Japan, between 1908 and 1910, as 2nd Secretary at Sofia, Bulgaria in 1911, as 1st Secretary at Peking in 1916, as Acting British High Commissioner in Siberia in 1920 and as British Minister to China between 1926 and 1933.

In 1934 he was appointed High Commissioner for Egypt and the Sudan. In 1935 following demands from the Egyptian prime minister Mostafa el-Nahas for a new Anglo-Egyptian treaty, Lampson embarked on the talks. The increasing aggressive claims by Italy that the entire Mediterranean and Red Sea areas were in the Italian sphere of influence led to Lampson being instructed that because of "the rise of Italy as a Mediterranean and North African Power that "that the retention of a British garrison on the Suez Canal and at or in the vicinity of Alexandria is essential". Despite the apparent weaker hand of el-Nahas, the two were about equal as the Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden advised Lampson: "Failure to negotiate a treaty with Egypt, followed by disturbances in that country, their suppression by British forces and the government of Egypt by His Majesty's Government by force and against the will of the Egyptian people, would be represented throughout the Arab Near East possibly as a sign of British bad faith, certainly as a proof of British imperialism pursued at the expense of a weaker Mohametan country". As a result of the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936, to which Lampson was a signatory, Britain loosened its grip on Egypt and the post title was changed to Ambassador to Egypt and High Commissioner for the Sudan in 1936. Under the terms of the treaty signed on 26 August 1936, the British retained the Suez canal base; the right to use Alexandria as a naval base for the next 8 years along with the right to station air and ground forces to defend the Alexandria base; the right to defend the Egyptian border with the Italian colony of Libya; and the right to use all facilities in Egypt to support British forces in the event of war. Lampson continued in this office until 1946. As ambassador to Egypt he forced King Farouk I to change the cabinet to a Wafdist one through surrounding the king's palace with tanks in the Abdeen Palace incident of 1942.

He was then Special Commissioner in Southeast Asia between 1946 and 1948. He was admitted to the Privy Council in 1941 and raised to the peerage as Baron Killearn, of Killearn in the County of Stirling, on 17 May 1943. He was also awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon of Japan and the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon of Japan.

Family

Lampson with his second wife Jacqueline in the gardens of the Cairo embassy

Lord Killearn married firstly Rachel, daughter of William Wilton Phipps, in 1912. They had one son and two daughters:

• Graham Curtis Lampson, 2nd Baron Killearn (1919–1996). He died leaving daughters only, the youngest Hon. Nadine Marisa Lampson being married to Sir Nicholas Bonsor, Bt.
• Hon. Mary Lampson
• Hon. Margaret Lampson

After Rachel's death in 1930 he married secondly Jacqueline Aldine Leslie Castellani (1910–2015), daughter of Aldo Castellani, KCMG (Hon.), in 1934. They had one son and two daughters:

• Victor Miles George Aldous Lampson, 3rd Baron Killearn. He has issue, including a son and heir apparent.
• Hon. Jacquetta Jean Frederica Lampson; she married Peregrine Eliot, 10th Earl of St Germans, and had issue, three sons.
• Hon. Roxana Rose Catherine Naila Lampson. She married Ian Ross, mother of six children, including the musicians Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross and the model Liberty Ross.

Lampson was a close personal friend of Sir Edward Peel.

Succession

Lord Killearn died in September 1964, aged 84, and was succeeded in the barony by his son by his first marriage, Graham. As Graham died without male heirs, the title subsequently passed to Lord Killearn's son from his second marriage, Victor.

The 3rd Lord Killearn took legal action in 2011 to prevent his mother selling off the family home, Haremere Hall.

Arms

Coat of arms of Miles Lampson, 1st Baron Killearn

Crest A gryphon's head erased Gules charged with an escarbuncle Argent between two wings paly of four Argent and Gules. Escutcheon Per saltire Argent and Gules two gryphons' heads in fess and as many escarbuncles in pale counterchanged. Supporters Dexter a camel Proper with head stall and rope reflexed over the back Gules, sinister a Chinese dragon also Proper. Motto Persevera Et Vince (Persevere And Conquer)

See also

• List of ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Egypt
• Egypt in World War II

Sources

• The Killearn Diaries, 1934–1946, London: Sidwick and Jackson, 1972.
• Fraser (2011). "The Middle East and the Coming of War". In Frank McDonough (ed.). Origins of the Second World War An International Perpsective. London: Continuum. pp. 327–341.
• Yapp, M.E. (ed.): Politics and diplomacy in Egypt: The diaries of Sir Miles Lampson, 1935–1937, Oxford: Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 1997.
• Lord Killearn's Diaries: Custodial history: In the possession of Lord Killearn, the Lampson family, Drs Trefor Evans and David Steeds of the University of Aberystwyth. Reference code: GB165-0176. Dates of creation: 1926–1951. 8 boxes 25 volumes. Scope and content: 25 MS and TS volumes of diaries, 1926–51, covering his service in China, Egypt and the Sudan, and South-East Asia.
• Cassandra Jardine: "Grande dame is still giving high society plenty of cause for gossip", in: The Independent, Sunday 27 January 2008. Describes the life and times of the Dowager Lady Killearn (née Jacquetta Aldine Leslie Castellani).
• O'Sullivan, Christopher D.: FDR and the End of Empire: The Origins of American Power in the Middle East., Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Miles Lampson, 1st Baron Killearn