Son of British Engine-Driver Legation Secretary Rumania

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6667, 21 July 1928, Page 6 (Supplement)

Son of British Engine-Driver Legation Secretary Rumania

' LONDON, Even that exclusive body, the British diplomatic service, is moving with the times. : The honour, of breaking its out-of-date tradition that only the- well-to-do'should ho-admitted to its ranks,-be-longs to : Robert Gabrgo "Howe, ' whose parents live at Dairynouso. Road Derby, England. The son of an engine driver Mr Howe ,at the age of 14 won a scholarship which took him to St.Cathcrine’a College, Cambridge. ; Whei the war came he served: as a lieutenant ;in th© Sherwood- Foresters. Later oh, ho filled the position of censon on the intelligence st air at Constantinople. i Prom that • he. passed on ; : to the diplomatic service,- and has . been posted successively to Copenhagen, Belgrade, Eio do Janeiro, and Bucharest, i His achievement has been brought to light in the House of Commons. Miss

Diplomatic Service Traditions Broken With March of the Times—H. Thomas Also Proud of Having- Been Engine Driver.

Ellen Wilkinson, Labour member of Parliament for Middl'csbrough, asked the Government now many heads of embassies, or legations abroad entered the diplomatic service,. the Foreign Office, or the civil service by open competitive examination, how many entered by examination restricted to a nominated or selected group, and how ‘many of the latter were sons of working-class parents.. In his reply, Godfrey LockerLampson,’ Foreign Undersecretary, mentioned that tho First Secretary of a legation was the son of an engine driver. Mr Howe is not tho only high placed officer; which tho engine footplate has given to Britain. ( James H. Thomas, who has been a member of Parliament since 1910,/and was Colonial Secretary in the Labour Government of 1923-24, takes justifiable pride in the fact that he was onco an engine driver on tho Great Western Bail way.