SIR R. VANSITTART

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 142, 12 March 1938, Page 8 (Supplement)

SIR R. VANSITTART

Diplomat And Author

Front it background of Eton College and an austere diplomatic career, Sir Robert Vansittart writes successful plays, poetry and other literature. His duty as Permanent Under-Secre-tary of State,.for Foreign Affairs (he bus recently been given another post), is to keep the Empire’s Foreign Office running smoothly, whoever the Foreign Secretary is or whatever the political crisis. Vansittart has been the real “man behind the scenes” in the foreign affairs department at Whitehall for eight years. He was an important figure in the Ethiopian crisis, the Spanish situation, the Mediterranean "piracy” conference and other serious diplomatic developments. Yet. he found time to write “Passion B,” a light comedy. A robust, vigorous man, Sir Robert several times has been mentioned for an Ambassadorship,' twice for the post at Washington. He has stuck to the more solid side of the foreign service. His first wife was the (laughter of the late General William C. Keppenheimer, banker and business man of Jersey City, N.J. They had a son and a daughter. Lady Vansittart died in 1028. Three years later Sir Robert married Lady Barclay, daughter of Herbert Ward and widow of Sir Colville Barclay. Sir Robert, who was knighted for his diplomatic achievements, is a son of a British Army captain and a grandson of a colonel.