Charles Ritchie (diplomat)

Charles Ritchie
Canadian Ambassador to West Germany
In office 1954–1958
Preceded by	Thomas Clayton Davis
Succeeded by	Escott Reid
Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations
In office 1958–1962
Preceded by	Robert Alexander MacKay
Succeeded by	Paul Tremblay
Canadian Ambassador to the United States
In office 1962–1966
Preceded by	Norman Robertson
Succeeded by	Edgar Ritchie
Canadian Ambassador to the North Atlantic Council
In office 1966–1967
Preceded by	George Ignatieff
Succeeded by	Ross Campbell
High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom
In office 1967–1971
Preceded by	Lionel Chevrier
Succeeded by	Jake Warren
Personal details
Born	Charles Stewart Almon Ritchie (1906-09-23)September 23, 1906 Halifax, Nova Scotia
Died	June 7, 1995(1995-06-07) (aged 88) Ottawa, Ontario
Spouse	Sylvia Smellie
Relations	Roland Ritchie, brother

Charles Stewart Almon Ritchie, CC (September 23, 1906 – June 7, 1995) was a Canadian diplomat and diarist.

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Ritchie was educated at the University of King's College, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Pembroke College, Oxford, Harvard University, and École Libre des Sciences Politiques.^[1] He joined the Department of External Affairs in 1934 eventually becoming Canada's ambassador to West Germany (1954–1958), Permanent Representative to the United Nations (1958–1962), ambassador to the United States during the presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson (1962–1966), ambassador to the North Atlantic Council (1966–1967) and from 1967 to 1971 was Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in London.^[2]

While Ritchie's career as a diplomat marked him as an important person in the history of Canadian foreign relations, he became famous through the publication of his diaries, first The Siren Years, and then three follow-ups. The diaries document both his diplomatic career and his private life, including the beginning of his long love affair with the Anglo-Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen, which began in 1941 when he was still single and she married, survived through his marriage in 1948 and long periods of separation, lasting until Bowen's death in 1973.^[1]

In 1969 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada "for services in the field of diplomacy".^[3] He received honorary doctorates from Trent University (1976),^[4] York University (1992)^[5] and Carleton University (1992).^[6]

Ritchie came from a prominent family in Nova Scotia. His brother, Roland Ritchie, continuing a family tradition in the law, was a puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.^[7]

Selected works

• The Siren Years: A Canadian Diplomat Abroad 1937–1945 Toronto: Macmillan, 1974. ISBN 0-7710-7526-X, winner of the 1974 Governor General's Award for non-fiction.
• An Appetite for Life: The Education of a Young Diarist, 1924–1927 Toronto: Macmillan, 1977. ISBN 0-7705-1573-8.
• Diplomatic Passport Toronto: Macmillan, 1981. ISBN 0-7715-9587-5.
• Storm Signals Toronto: Macmillan, 1983. ISBN 0-7715-9782-7.

References

1. Victoria Glendinning, ed. (2008). Love's Civil War: Elizabeth Bowen and Charles Ritchie. McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 978-0771035661.
2. W.H. New, ed. (2002). Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0802007619.
3. Order of Canada citation
4. "Trent Honorary Graduates And Eminent Service Award Winners". Trent University. Archived from the original on 2012-06-29.
5. "Honorary Degrees Recipients". York University.
6. "Honorary Degrees Awarded Since 1954". Carleton University. Archived from the original on 2013-11-10. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
7. "Roland A. Ritchie". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on September 13, 2012.

External links

• Charles Stewart Almon Ritchie at The Canadian Encyclopedia by Norman Hillmer
• Heads of Post List