View source for Maurice Peterson

{{Short description|British diplomat}}
{{EngvarB|date=December 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
'''Sir Maurice Drummond Peterson''' [[GCMG]] (10 March 1889 – 15 March 1952) was a British diplomat who was minister or ambassador to several countries.

==Career==
Maurice Drummond Peterson was the younger son of [[William Peterson (academic)|William Peterson]] (later Sir William Peterson, Principal of [[University College, Dundee]] and later [[McGill University]]). He was educated at [[Rugby School]] and [[Magdalen College, Oxford]], where he gained a first class degree in modern history. He entered the [[Foreign Office]] in 1913 and served at [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]], Prague, Tokyo, [[Cairo]] and [[Madrid]] before being attached to the British delegation to the [[Washington Naval Conference]] between October 1921 and February 1922 as private secretary to [[Arthur Balfour]]. He was head of the Egyptian department in the Foreign Office 1931–1936 including four months in Cairo in 1934 as acting High Commissioner (during the absence of [[Miles Lampson, 1st Baron Killearn|Sir Miles Lampson]]) when he was instrumental in resolving a political dispute in the Egyptian government which resulted in the resignation of the Prime Minister, [[Abdel Fattah Yahya Ibrahim Pasha]].

Peterson was [[Minister (diplomacy)|Minister]] to [[Bulgaria]] 1936–38. In March 1938 he was appointed to be "His Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at [[Baghdad|Bagdad]]"<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34500/pages/2323 The London Gazette, 8 April 1938]</ref> but this was quickly corrected to "His Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the [[Ghazi of Iraq|King of Iraq]]."<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34503/pages/2593 The London Gazette, 19 April 1938]</ref> However, he remained in Iraq only until March 1939 when he was appointed ambassador to Spain,<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34620/pages/2825 The London Gazette, 28 April 1939]</ref> then under the regime of [[Francisco Franco]]. In the early days of the 1939–45 war he defended British interests with such persistence that he was officially congratulated by the then Foreign Secretary, [[E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax|Lord Halifax]],<ref>Obituary – Sir Maurice Peterson, ''The Times'', London, 17 March 1952, page 6</ref> yet in June 1940 he was recalled to London and served as Controller of Overseas Publicity in the [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Information]] 1940–41 and as head of the Egyptian, eastern and far eastern departments of the Foreign Office 1942–44.

Peterson was Ambassador to [[Turkey]] 1944–46<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/36916/pages/641 The London Gazette, 30 January 1945]</ref> and finally Ambassador to the [[Soviet Union]] 1946–49.<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/37715/pages/4469 The London Gazette, 6 September 1946]</ref> In 1949 he retired from the Diplomatic Service due to illness, and was subsequently a director of [[Midland Bank]].

==Publications==
* ''Both sides of the curtain: an autobiography'', Constable, London, 1950

==Honours==
Maurice Peterson was appointed CMG in 1933, knighted KCMG in 1938 on his appointment to Iraq,<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34477/pages/577 The London Gazette, 28 January 1938]</ref> and promoted GCMG in the [[New Year Honours]] of 1947.<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/37835/supplements/6 Supplement to the London Gazette, 1 January 1947]</ref>

==Offices held==
{{s-start}}
{{s-dip}}
{{succession box|title=[[List of Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Bulgaria|Minister to Bulgaria]]
|before=[[Charles Henry Bentinck|Charles Bentinck]]
|after=[[George William Rendel|George Rendel]]
|years=1936–1938}}

{{succession box|title=[[List of Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Iraq|Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the King of Iraq]]
|before=[[Archibald Clark Kerr, 1st Baron Inverchapel|Sir Archibald Clark Kerr]]
|after=[[Basil Newton|Sir Basil Newton]]
|years=1938–1939}}

{{succession box|title=[[List of ambassadors from the United Kingdom to Spain|His Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Spain]]
|before=[[Henry Chilton]]
|after=[[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Sir Samuel Hoare]]
|years=1939–1940}}

{{succession box|title=[[List of Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Turkey|His Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Angora]]
|before=[[Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen]]
|after=[[David Victor Kelly|Sir David Kelly]]
|years=1944–1946}}

{{succession box|title=[[List of Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Russia|Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Moscow]]
|before=[[Archibald Clark Kerr, 1st Baron Inverchapel]]
|after=[[David Victor Kelly|Sir David Kelly]]
|years=1946–1949}}
{{s-end}}

==References==
* [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U241757 PETERSON, Sir Maurice Drummond], Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007. Retrieved 19 July 2012
* Victor Rothwell, Peterson, Sir Maurice Drummond (1889–1952), ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2012
* [http://www.stepneyrobarts.co.uk/255.htm Ancestors of Sir Maurice Drummond Peterson GCMG]
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{PM20|FID=pe/013494}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peterson, Maurice Drummond}}
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:1952 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Rugby School]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Bulgaria]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Iraq]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Spain]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Turkey]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George]]