Alvary Gascoigne

Sir Alvary Douglas Frederick Trench-Gascoigne GBE, KCMG (6 August 1893 – 18 April 1970) was a British diplomat.[1]

Sir Alvary Gascoigne GBE KCMG
Portrait of Alvary Gascoigne, circa 1930
British Political Representative to Japan
In office 1946–1951
Monarch	George VI
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Sir Robert Craigie (1937, as Ambassador)
Succeeded by	Sir Esler Dening
Personal details
Born	6 August 1893
Died	18 April 1970 (aged 76)
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Sylvia Wilder ​ ​ (m. 1916; div. 1935)​ Lorna Priscilla Leatham ​ ​ (m. 1935)​
Children	2

Early life

Alvary Douglas Frederick Trench-Gascoigne was born on 6 August 1893. He was the son of Colonel Frederick Richard Thomas Trench-Gascoigne and Laura Gwendolen Douglas Galton.[2]

In 1916 he married Sylvia Wilder, daughter of Brigader-General Wilber Elliott Wilder; they had two children:

• Douglas Wilder Trench-Gascoigne (11 November 1917–August 1944)[2]
• Yvonne Studd-Trench-Gascoigne (5 May 1919 – 17 January 1973)[2]

His first marriage ended in divorce in 1935; and he remarried in the same year to Lorna Priscilla Leatham.[2]

Lotherton Hall, Aberford, near Leeds

On the death of his father in 1937,[3] he inherited Lotherton Hall, which was the ancestral home of the Gascoigne baronets.[4]

Career

Gascoigne began military service in the First World War as a Second Lieutenant in the cavalry dragoons.[5] In 1915, he was transferred to the Coldstream Guards (Royal Field Artillery).[6]

Gascoigne's career as a diplomat lasted from 1921 through 1953.[2] In 1925, he was appointed as Second Secretary in the Foreign Office;[7] and he was promoted to First Secretary in 1933.[8]

In August 1939, Gascoigne was named Consul-General for the Tangier Zone and the Spanish Zone of the Protectorate of Morocco, to reside at Tangier. He and Lorna worked to help European Jews who were refugees in wartime Tangier.[9]

In August 1941, Gascoigne was promoted to the diplomatic rank of embassy Counsellor.[10]

Gascoigne was the British "Political Representative" in Japan from 1946 through 1951.[11] In 1947 when he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George.[12] He left Tokyo in 1951.[13]

Sir Alvary was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Moscow on 18 October, 1951.[14] In December 1951, he was honored as Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire.[15]

Later years

Sir Alvary lived in retirement at Lotherton Hall. In 1968, he presented the Hall and grounds to Leeds City Council.[16] He died on 18 April 1970 at age 76; and the London Gazette published a notice of Sir Alvary's death.[1]

Honours

• Order of St Michael and St George, Knight Commander (KCMG), 1947.[12]
• Order of St Michael and St George. Knight Grand Cross (GCMG), 1952.[15]
• Order of the British Empire, Knight Grand Cross (GBE).[15]

See also

• List of Ambassadors from the United Kingdom to Japan
• List of Ambassadors from the United Kingdom to Russia
• Anglo-Japanese relations

Notes

1. Lundy, Darryl. "Sir Alvary Douglas Frederick Trench-Gascoigne, ID#34634". The Peerage.;"No. 45089". The London Gazette. 28 April 1970. p. 4854.
2. Lundy, Darryl. "ID#34634". The Peerage., citing Burke's Peerage and Baronetage (Charles Mosley, ed.), 1999, vol. 1, p. 124.
3. "No. 34438". The London Gazette. 24 September 1937. p. 5987.; "No. 34509". The London Gazette. 10 May 1938. p. 3014.
4. Leeds City Council, Lotherton Hall
5. "No. 28791". The London Gazette. 9 January 1914. p. 259.; "No. 28947". The London Gazette. 20 October 1914. p. 8491.
6. "No. 31256". The London Gazette. 28 March 1919. p. 4107.
7. "No. 33050". The London Gazette. 26 May 1925. p. 3550.
8. "No. 33983". The London Gazette. 3 October 1933. p. 6352.
9. "No. 34711". The London Gazette. 17 November 1939. p. 6949.
10. "No. 35414". The London Gazette. 9 January 1942. p. 194.
11. Hoare, James. (1999). Embassies in the East: the Story of the British Embassies in Japan, China, and Korea from 1859 to the Present, p. 214., p. 214, at Google Books
12. "No. 38161". The London Gazette. 30 December 1947. p. 7.; 3rd grade "No. 38262". The London Gazette. 16 April 1948. p. 2411.; 2nd grade "No. 38952". The London Gazette. 23 June 1950. p. 3257.
13. UK Hansard, HC Deb 21 March 1951 vol 485 cc2413-4; retrieved 2011-05-18
14. "No. 39513". The London Gazette. 11 April 1952. p. 2013.
15. "No. 39732". The London Gazette. 30 December 1952. p. 21.
16. Leodis, Lotherton Hall, Sir Alvary Gascoigne; retrieved 2011-05-18

References

• Hoare, James. (1999). Embassies in the East: the Story of the British Embassies in Japan, China, and Korea from 1859 to the Present. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press. ISBN 9780700705122; OCLC 42645589

External links

• UK in Japan, Chronology of Heads of Mission