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2 unusual facts about Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service


Foreign Service

Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service, the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom, and specifically the organisation which ran the Foreign Office in London before amalgamation with the Diplomatic Service in 1918

William Nunn

Mr Nunn was also a British diplomat and was the final British Ambassador to Siam(now Thailand)and in his latter days would recount stories of his 'adventures' there to the children whom he knew.


Archibald Salvidge

Sir Archibald Tutton James Salvidge KBE PC (5 August 1863 – 11 December 1928) was an English politician, most notable for securing the political dominance of the Conservative Party in Liverpool through the use of the Working Men's Conservative Association (WMCA), earning him the nickname "the king of Liverpool" (by Warden Chilcott, MP for Liverpool Walton).

Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington

General Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington, G.C.H., PC, PC (Ire) (17 March 1753 – 5 September 1829), styled Viscount Petersham until 1779, was a British soldier.

Chubb detector lock

In 1817, a burglary in Portsmouth Dockyard which had been carried out using false keys to gain entry prompted the British Government to announce a competition to produce a lock that could be opened only with its own key.

Clive Steele

Setting up private practice in 1924 as a consulting engineer, he designed and supervised structural works including the State Savings Bank of Victoria building in Melbourne, the members' stand at Flemington Racecourse, the National Mutual Life Association of Australasia Ltd building in Brisbane, Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney and the Melbourne Town Hall.

Colt baronets

The Colt family descended from Thomas Colt, of Essex and Suffolk, Keeper of the Rolls of Chancery in Ireland and a member of Edward IV's Privy Council.

Constitution of Malta

On July 27, 1960, the Secretary of State for the Colonies declared to the British House of Commons the wish of Her Majesty’s Government to reinstate representative government in Malta and declare that it was now time to work out a new constitution where elections could be held as soon as it was established.

Craig Mackey

Mackey previously held senior roles as Chief Constable, Cumbria Constabulary, in addition to chief officer posts in Wiltshire Constabulary, Gloucestershire Constabulary and a specialist staff officer role in Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).

Day of Mourning

These groups had also sent petitions to the Government of Australia and the Government of the United Kingdom, in the early 1930s, for the recognition of Aboriginal civil rights (including Aboriginal representation in the Parliament of Australia), but they had been ignored or dismissed without serious attention, and each had refused to pass the petitions on to King George V.

Domenico Reina

He joined John Ebers's company at the King's Theatre, Haymarket and in 1823 sang in the first London performances of Gioachino Rossini's operas Ricciardo e Zoraide, La donna del lago and Matilde di Shabran.

Dunning baronets

He was Inspector of Constabulary at the Home Office between 1912 and 1930.

Edmund Robertson, 1st Baron Lochee

Edmund Robertson, 1st Baron Lochee PC, QC, LLD, DL (28 October 1845 - 13 September 1911), was a Scottish barrister, academic and Liberal politician.

Environment Agency

It took over the roles and responsibilities of the National Rivers Authority (NRA), Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP) and the waste regulation authorities in England and Wales including the London Waste Regulation Authority (LWRA).

Gary Watson

Gary Watson (13 June 1930 in Shropshire, England) is a retired British television actor who started out as a stage actor most notably acting in Friedrich Hebbel's 1962 play Judith at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, England with Sean Connery.

Georges Coulon

Georges Coulon was officially the son of the actress Augustine-Antoinette Finot-Léonard and Antoine Coulon, choreographer and ballet director at the Paris Opera and Her Majesty's Theatre in London.

Guy Street

From 1898 to 1963, the street was home to Her Majesty's Theatre, a key performing arts venue.

Harold Watkinson, 1st Viscount Watkinson

Harold Arthur Watkinson, 1st Viscount Watkinson, CH, PC (25 January 1910, in Walton on Thames – 19 December 1995, in Bosham) was a British businessman and Conservative politician.

Her Majesty's Australian Ship

This prefix is derived from HMS (Her/His Majesty's Ship), the prefix used by the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, and can be equally applied to warships and shore bases (as Australia follows the British tradition of referring to naval establishments as ships or stone frigates).

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Fire Services

In February 2007, the government in the UK announced it was setting up a new unit to advise ministers on fire and rescue issues and creating the role of Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser (CFRA) confirming in May the same year that Sir Ken Knight had been appointed to the position.

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons

The Chief Inspector is not operationally part of HM Prison Service or the Ministry of Justice, and both have been criticised at times in the reports issued by the Chief Inspector after prison visits, or in their Annual Report, delivered to the Justice Secretary and presented to Parliament.

Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney

The $100 Australian banknote (in the background of the Dame Nellie Melba portrait) features an image of the interior of the theatre.

HM Prison Doncaster

In 2004, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons accused Serco of "institutional meanness" at Doncaster Prison, and described conditions there as "squalid".

HM Prison Leicester

Leicester Prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service, and is situated immediately north of Nelson Mandela Park (formerly Welford Road Recreation Ground), a sign in which quotes Nelson Mandela: "There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere".

HM Prison Portland

In March 2000, an inspection report by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons severely criticised conditions at Portland YOI, including foul-smelling toilets and filthy showers.

HM Prison Risley

In September 2003, an inspection report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons criticised Risley Prison for its policy of mixing sex offenders with other inmates.

HM Prison The Verne

In November 2005, an inspection report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons criticised The Verne for weaknesses in its anti-bullying and suicide prevention policies.

HMVS Gordon

The Royal Australian Navy was formed in 1911 and from this time she was referred to as HMAS Gordon.

Jean-Baptiste Malter

He and his wife joined the company of French actors raised by Francisque for the 1734-35 season at the Haymarket, as well as making several trips back and forth between London and Paris.

Laurence O'Keeffe

He joined the Civil Service in 1953, initially in HM Customs and Excise, but transferred to the Foreign Service in 1962 and was posted to Bangkok 1962–65; the South East Asia desk at the Foreign Office 1965–68; Head of Chancery at Athens 1968–72; Commercial Counsellor at Jakarta 1972–75; and head of the Hong Kong and Indian Ocean Department, FCO, 1975–76.

Mia Slavenska

One of her most highly regarded roles was as a strongly dramatic Blanche DuBois in Valerie Bettis' modern choreography of A Streetcar Named Desire, premiered in Her Majesty's Theatre in Montreal in 1952.

Murder of April Jones

On 8 October 2012, a 19-year-old male from Chorley in Lancashire was sentenced to 12 weeks' imprisonment in a Young Offender Institution for posting comments about Jones and Madeleine McCann on his Facebook page, after pleading guilty to sending a grossly offensive message, an offence under section 127 (1)a of the Communications Act 2003.

Murder of Rosie Palmer

Warehouses, industrial buildings, and disused buildings around the adjacent docks were searched while HM Coastguard, a police helicopter, and a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboat searched the sea and shore.

Myles Ponsonby

In 1951, he entered the British government's Foreign Service, later transferring to the Diplomatic Service, and held posts in Egypt (1951), Cyprus (1952–53), Beirut (1953–56), Djakarta (1958–61), and Nairobi (1963–64).

National Offender Management Service

In January 2008, the Secretary of State for Justice announced major organisational reform which resulted in the Director-General of Her Majesty's Prison Service, Phil Wheatley, becoming the Chief Executive of NOMS, and assuming responsibility for both the National Probation Service (NPS) as well as HM Prison Service and management of contracts for private sector operation of prisons and prisoner escorting.

Paul Mealor

Mealor's motet, a setting of Ubi Caritas et Amor, was commissioned by Prince William for his marriage to Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011, when it was sung by the Choirs of Westminster Abbey and Her Majesty's Chapel Royal conducted by James O'Donnell.

Politics of Scotland

The secretariat of the Executive is part of the UK Civil Service and the head of the Executive, the Permanent Secretary (presently Sir Peter Housden), is the equivalent of the Permanent Secretary of a Whitehall department.

RAF Search and Rescue Force

In the UK, maritime search and rescue is coordinated by HM Coastguard, while land-based operations are usually coordinated by the local Police force.

The military and civil roles are shared with the Sea King helicopters of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, while the civil search and rescue role is also shared with the helicopters of HM Coastguard.

The colour of the location mark indicates the agency providing helicopter response (blue: Fleet Air Arm, yellow: RAF Search and Rescue Force, red: Her Majesty's Coastguard).

Roderick Sarell

He joined the Diplomatic Service in 1936 and served in Iran, Ethiopia, Iraq, Italy, Romania, Burma and Algeria before being appointed to be Ambassador to Libya 1964–69 and to Turkey 1969–73.

Sennen Cove Lifeboat Station

An RNLI silver medal was awarded in 1868 to both Coxswain Nichols and Coastguard Officer S Morrison for rescuing the sole survivor of the Devon.

Sir Edmund Monson, 3rd Baronet

He entered the British diplomatic service in 1906 and served in junior capacities in Constantinople, Tokyo, Paris and Tehran.

St Issey

On 28 December 1942 the British tug HMS St. Issey (Lt. J. H. W. Howe, RNR) was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine (U-617) off Benghazi, Libya.

Ted Strehlow

The verdict was appealed, went to the High Court and the Privy Council in London, and concluded with a review by a Royal Commission.

The Good Companions

On 11 July 1974 a musical adaptation, directed by Braham Murray with a libretto by Ronald Harwood, music by André Previn and lyrics by Johnny Mercer (in his last show) opened at Her Majesty's Theatre in London – the same venue of the stage play over forty years earlier (having had its world premiere at the Palace Theatre in Manchester).

William Frederick Mitchell

Mitchell wrote a short autobiography for the 1904 May/June issue of The Messenger, a magazine for deaf people, in which he describes how scarlet fever deprived him of his hearing but at home his father, an HM Coastguard stationed at Calshot Castle, taught him to speak.

William Harrison Ainsworth

While completing his legal studies in London he met the publisher John Ebers, at that time manager of the King's Theatre, Haymarket.

William Wellesley-Pole, 3rd Earl of Mornington

William Wellesley-Pole, 3rd Earl of Mornington GCH, PC, PC (Ire) (20 May 1763 – 22 February 1845), known as Lord Maryborough between 1821 and 1842, was an Anglo-Irish politician and an elder brother of the Duke of Wellington.

WYLD-FM

After Program Director and morning jock Michael Greene (formerly of WTIX-AM) read the sign-off announcement, the station called it a day with "Her Majesty," the very last track from Abbey Road.

Ynys Lochtyn

In February 1997, a Nissan Mistral (called Nissan Terrano in UK) driven by a Coastguard Officer (who was carrying out a survey prior to arranging an air-sea rescue practice test) slipped on wet grass on the cliffs above the beach adjacent to Ynys Lochtyn and it was unable to gain traction.


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