James Marjoribanks
Encyclopedia
Sir James Alexander Milne Marjoribanks KCMG (29 May 1911 – 29 January 2003) was a career diplomat in the British Foreign Service and became British ambassador to the European Economic Community. He presented Britain's application to join the European Community in 1967 and was instrumental in this application becoming successful.
, near Edinburgh, Scotland, the third son of Thomas Marjoribanks, a minister in the (presbyterian) Church of Scotland
, and Elizabeth Logan. James Marjoribanks’ father Thomas and his brother William were respectively heads of the lowland Marjoribanks family
. James Marjoribanks attended two of Edinburgh’s famous public schools
(i.e. private schools) – Merchiston Castle School
and Edinburgh Academy
.
In order to prepare for his entrance into Edinburgh University where he was to study modern languages, Marjoribanks spent 1927–28 in Paris and at the Convitto Maschile Valdese in Torre Pellice
, Italy where he became fluent in Italian. This was to prove useful to him later. He graduated from Edinburgh University with a first class honours Master of Arts (Scotland)
in 1932 and then studied German further in Bonn
and Tübingen
, Germany. He stayed for four months with a German newspaper proprietor’s family which coincided with the accession to power of Adolf Hitler
in January 1933. Marjoribanks noted that the general attitude was “We’ve tried everything else, so we might as well try Adolf. If he’s no good we’ll get rid of him.” But, he also noted, it wasn’t as easy as that. After the war, Marjoribanks discovered that a bomb had destroyed both the house and the parents. Two of the three sons had died on the Eastern Front
.
Marjoribanks passed the British Foreign Service (later called the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
) exams in 1933 and was posted to China in 1934.
and took up his post on 12 January 1935. He spent much of his first two years in China learning Mandarin
, which he quickly spoke fluently, much to the admiration of his colleagues. He found that it was not difficult to make oneself understood fairly quickly in Mandarin, as there is little in the way of orthodox grammar, no alphabet, no genders, no inflexions – only a series of sounds portrayed by ideographs. But there were many pitfalls in the sounds.
At a consular cocktail party, he was asked by the first secretary to mix the cocktails beforehand. Since Marjoribanks had grown up in a Scottish manse in the 1920s he knew nothing about mixing cocktails. So he liberally added portions from all the bottles of drinks available into the cocktail bowl. The cocktail was a great success. Afterwards, the first secretary said "Devilishly good cocktail, James!" and asked for the recipe. Marjoribanks replied gravely that the recipe was a “family secret!”
He had become engaged to Sonya Stanley Alder (sister of the portrait painter and author Vera Stanley Alder
) in the UK and was allowed to send for her at the end of his two years probationary period. Sonya and James were married in the embassy chapel on 29 December 1936. The British ambassador, Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen
(who later, as ambassador to Turkey, was notorious because of the German spy “Cicero” Elyesa Bazna
) gave the bride away. They were married until Sonya’s death in 1981.
On 6 March 1938, Marjoribanks was appointed Vice-Consul in Hankou
where the Chiang Kai-shek
government had set up its temporary headquarters after the fall of Nanjing
. James noted that one of the last dispatches the Chinese government received in Nanjing from the British Embassy while the city was already burning and the Rape of Nanjing
was taking place, was that “In future the import of grey squirrels into the United Kingdom is forbidden.” There was a courteous acknowledgement from the Chinese Foreign office with an assurance that the information had been referred to the appropriate department. Hankou in turn became a very dangerous place after the rest of the British diplomatic staff left and the Japanese army occupied the city.
Marjoribanks helped several vulnerable Chinese friends escape but the cruelty of the Japanese occupation of Hankou left an indelible memory with him for the rest of his life. One of his motivations for his enthusiastic support for the European Community in later life was his memory of the horrors of war in Hankou. He escaped by plane from Hankou disguised as an Italian marine where his fluent Italian came in useful.
Government on the role of the French fleet under Admiral Darlan. The Royal Navy destroyed much of this fleet near Oran
in 1940. Marjoribanks was also heavily involved in the evacuation of Marseilles.
, United States, where he emphasised Britain’s determination to fight on and encouraged the Americans to become more active in the war. His personal experience of Japanese and German aggression was very valuable to him when arguing the case for Britain. He came to know the Duke of Windsor
who was governor of the Bahamas at that time. On 13 October 1942 Marjoribanks was moved to New York for two years where he was part of the diplomatic effort to work on the British "special relationship
" with the American Government.
, Romania
, where he added the Romanian language
to the long list of languages he could speak fluently. At that time, King Michael I of Romania
had ousted the pro-Nazi dictator Ion Antonescu
and Romania had become one of countries on the Allied side fighting the Axis
. The Russians entered the country and imposed their own communist puppet regime under Petru Groza
. In 1945, Marjoribanks gave the ousted head of the government, General Nicolae Rădescu
sanctuary in the British legation and got him out of the country. Marjoribanks thus acquired knowledge of the way the Soviets work. This helped him in his next posting to the Council of Foreign Ministers
, where the new European boundaries were being decided.
which was intended to settle territorial questions and conclude post-war peace treaties.
The Ministers met in London and Moscow in 1945 and in Paris in 1946 but difficulties in negotiating with the Russians became apparent. Marjoribanks was as a member of a four-man international team that obtained agreement on redrawing the Franco-Italian border.
, Ernest Bevin
at the Council of Foreign Ministers with responsibility for representing Britain at the peace treaty negotiations for Austria
. It was a protracted process. The negotiations became particularly difficult when Russia started the Berlin Blockade
which lead to the Berlin Airlift and the Partition of Germany. When the German peace talks at the Council foundered due to Soviet intransigence in 1947, Marjoribanks and his colleagues requested that the Austrian treaty negotiators be allowed to continue which was accepted. To the credit of these negotiators, the talks continued until, after Stalin’s death, the Russians signed the Austrian State Treaty
, withdrew from the country and Austria remained outside the Iron Curtain
. This was a rare example of the Soviets withdrawing from occupied territories after the war. The Foreign Service now began to take more notice of this talented diplomat.
, Australia. He worked there as Official Secretary to the British High Commission.
in Luxembourg
. This was the forerunner of the European Economic Community
and European Union. The head of the delegation was a fellow Scot, the businessman Sir Cecil Weir. Marjoribanks became convinced here that the future for Europe was in closer integration but the political will did not exist in London.
Weir and Marjoribanks posed the following question in one of their first messages to London in 1952: "…whether we have determined in our own minds that we want the [European] integration movement to succeed... If we do want it to succeed, we should surely put behind it the full force of our influence. If we want to cut it short and prevent its development to a political authority which might eventually become a federal state, it would surely be better for us not to wish it success". The Foreign Office replied that European integration would never succeed.
Marjoribanks was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
(CMG) on 10 June 1954.
for two years. He had strong personal misgivings during the Suez Crisis
but in spite of this the Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd
regarded him with much approval.
on 8 September 1957 as Minister (Economic). He received little encouragement from the British Ambassador
who regarded trade and commerce as something beneath a gentleman’s dignity and, like the Foreign Office, was lukewarm about European integration
. In spite of these difficulties, Marjoribanks enthusiastically launched a trade drive for exports from Britain to Germany. With his fluent German, Marjoribanks developed many personal contacts in the business community in Germany – including Ludwig Erhard
, the author of the German economic miracle. In five years, Marjoribanks achieved a spectacular increase in exports from Britain to Germany that was long remembered after he left Germany.
and Sir Alec Douglas-Home.
(KCMG) in 1965 and also appointed Ambassador
to the European Economic Community
(EEC) and its sister communities in Brussels. Sir James occupied this post during the protracted negotiations that eventually led to Britain’s acceptance into the EEC. On 12 May 1967 he presented Britain’s ultimately successful application to Renaat Van Elslande, who was in charge of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union
. Most of the time, Sir James worked for either the Labour
Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart
or George Brown
(both of whom regarded Sir James as highly suitable for this critical post). Finally, he worked for the Conservative
Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home. Marjoribanks and the various Foreign Secretaries succeeded in coming up with new ways of approaching the negotiations for Britain’s entry into the EEC. General Charles de Gaulle
raised numerous objections to Britain’s entry which Marjoribanks and the Foreign Secretary of the time were able to overcome. Marjoribanks worked consistently at making useful contacts within the EEC and then astutely advised Whitehall
on developments which might affect Britain’s application to enter the Common Market.
In 1971, he retired at the official Foreign Office retirement age of 60 but made no secret of his regret at having to leave the negotiations a year and a half before their final successful outcome. He was widely respected in Brussels and some of the complements he got from his contemporaries when he retired were – best person to manage the British Foreign Secretary George Brown (who was notorious for his temper and rudeness); – loyal, lucid and clear-thinking (France's chief negotiator Jean Marc Boegner); and – an extremely good and skilful negotiator (British Prime Minister Ted Heath).
and resumed climbing Scottish mountains as he had done in his youth. He was an expert croquet
player, often having discussed tactics with his delegation on the croquet lawn of his Brussels residence.
Sir James was tall and imposing, with a relaxed approach to life. He was an experienced raconteur and, with his keen sense of humour, devised and illustrated various books containing caricatures. He was also an expert at black pen-and-ink drawings.
Sir James was a member of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry
’s Committee on European Regional Policy from 1971–83 and became its Vice-President. He served as a director of the Distillers Company from 1971–75 and, during this time, the full realisation of the problems associated with the drug Thalidomide
emerged. In spite of these problems having started long before Sir James joined Distillers, the situation caused him a lot of worry and he became a spokesman for the board. He was also a director of Inveresk Research International, a Scottish research company which did a lot of work for the Pharmaceutical industry. In 1975, Sir James joined the Edinburgh University Court as a General Council
Assessor. He was the enthusiastic chairman from 1979 to 1990 of a Scottish pro-European pressure group called ‘Scotland in Europe’ which was very successful.
Sir James was also chairman of the Robert Louis Stevenson
Memorial Appeal. This appeal raised money to erect a memorial in Edinburgh and also for children with respiratory disorders. Sir James had grown up in Colinton manse, where Robert Louis Stevenson composed his book A Child's Garden of Verses
, and thus was an ideal person to take on this responsibility.
Shortly before he died in Edinburgh, he was delighted to be shown the new Euro coins
and notes by his daughter Patricia.
Background and family life
James Marjoribanks was born in ColintonColinton
Colinton is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland situated 6 kilometres south west of the city centre. It is bordered by Dreghorn to the south and Craiglockhart to the north-east. To the north-west it extends to Lanark Road and to the south-west to the City Bypass...
, near Edinburgh, Scotland, the third son of Thomas Marjoribanks, a minister in the (presbyterian) Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
, and Elizabeth Logan. James Marjoribanks’ father Thomas and his brother William were respectively heads of the lowland Marjoribanks family
Clan Marjoribanks
-Origins:The story often told of the origins of the surname Marjoribanks, and even supported by respectable authorities, is that Marjorie, daughter of King Robert the Bruce, brought into her marriage with Walter Stewart in 1315 lands in Dumfriesshire which became known as "Marjorie's Banks";...
. James Marjoribanks attended two of Edinburgh’s famous public schools
Public School (UK)
A public school, in common British usage, is a school that is neither administered nor financed by the state or from taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of endowments, tuition fees and charitable contributions, usually existing as a non profit-making charitable trust...
(i.e. private schools) – Merchiston Castle School
Merchiston Castle School
Merchiston Castle School is an independent school for boys in the village of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has about 480 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 8 and 18 as either boarders or day pupils; day pupils make up 35% of the school....
and Edinburgh Academy
Edinburgh Academy
The Edinburgh Academy is an independent school which was opened in 1824. The original building, in Henderson Row on the northern fringe of the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, is now part of the Senior School...
.
In order to prepare for his entrance into Edinburgh University where he was to study modern languages, Marjoribanks spent 1927–28 in Paris and at the Convitto Maschile Valdese in Torre Pellice
Torre Pellice
Torre Pellice is a comune in the Province of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 45 km southwest of Turin. It is crossed by the Pellice river....
, Italy where he became fluent in Italian. This was to prove useful to him later. He graduated from Edinburgh University with a first class honours Master of Arts (Scotland)
Master of Arts (Scotland)
A Master of Arts in Scotland can refer to an undergraduate academic degree in humanities and social sciences awarded by the ancient universities of Scotland – the University of St Andrews, the University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen and the University of Edinburgh, while the University of...
in 1932 and then studied German further in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
and Tübingen
Tübingen
Tübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...
, Germany. He stayed for four months with a German newspaper proprietor’s family which coincided with the accession to power of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
in January 1933. Marjoribanks noted that the general attitude was “We’ve tried everything else, so we might as well try Adolf. If he’s no good we’ll get rid of him.” But, he also noted, it wasn’t as easy as that. After the war, Marjoribanks discovered that a bomb had destroyed both the house and the parents. Two of the three sons had died on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
.
Marjoribanks passed the British Foreign Service (later called the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
) exams in 1933 and was posted to China in 1934.
China (1934–38)
Marjoribanks was first appointed probationary Vice-Consul in the British Chinese Consular Service in PekingBeijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
and took up his post on 12 January 1935. He spent much of his first two years in China learning Mandarin
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
, which he quickly spoke fluently, much to the admiration of his colleagues. He found that it was not difficult to make oneself understood fairly quickly in Mandarin, as there is little in the way of orthodox grammar, no alphabet, no genders, no inflexions – only a series of sounds portrayed by ideographs. But there were many pitfalls in the sounds.
At a consular cocktail party, he was asked by the first secretary to mix the cocktails beforehand. Since Marjoribanks had grown up in a Scottish manse in the 1920s he knew nothing about mixing cocktails. So he liberally added portions from all the bottles of drinks available into the cocktail bowl. The cocktail was a great success. Afterwards, the first secretary said "Devilishly good cocktail, James!" and asked for the recipe. Marjoribanks replied gravely that the recipe was a “family secret!”
He had become engaged to Sonya Stanley Alder (sister of the portrait painter and author Vera Stanley Alder
Vera Stanley Alder
Vera Dorothea Stanley Alder was a portrait painter and mystic. She wrote several books and pamphlets on self-help and spirituality. She founded the World Guardian Fellowship.-Background and family life :...
) in the UK and was allowed to send for her at the end of his two years probationary period. Sonya and James were married in the embassy chapel on 29 December 1936. The British ambassador, Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen
Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen
Sir Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull-Hugessen KCMG was a British diplomat, civil servant and author.-Background and education:...
(who later, as ambassador to Turkey, was notorious because of the German spy “Cicero” Elyesa Bazna
Elyesa Bazna
Elyesa Bazna was a famous World War II secret agent. An Albanian from Kosovo who spied for the Germans during the Second World War, and was widely known by his code name Cicero...
) gave the bride away. They were married until Sonya’s death in 1981.
On 6 March 1938, Marjoribanks was appointed Vice-Consul in Hankou
Hankou
Hankou was one of the three cities whose merging formed modern-day Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers where the Han falls into the Yangtze...
where the Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
government had set up its temporary headquarters after the fall of Nanjing
Nanjing
' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
. James noted that one of the last dispatches the Chinese government received in Nanjing from the British Embassy while the city was already burning and the Rape of Nanjing
Nanking Massacre
The Nanking Massacre or Nanjing Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, was a mass murder, genocide and war rape that occurred during the six-week period following the Japanese capture of the city of Nanjing , the former capital of the Republic of China, on December 13, 1937 during the Second...
was taking place, was that “In future the import of grey squirrels into the United Kingdom is forbidden.” There was a courteous acknowledgement from the Chinese Foreign office with an assurance that the information had been referred to the appropriate department. Hankou in turn became a very dangerous place after the rest of the British diplomatic staff left and the Japanese army occupied the city.
Marjoribanks helped several vulnerable Chinese friends escape but the cruelty of the Japanese occupation of Hankou left an indelible memory with him for the rest of his life. One of his motivations for his enthusiastic support for the European Community in later life was his memory of the horrors of war in Hankou. He escaped by plane from Hankou disguised as an Italian marine where his fluent Italian came in useful.
France (1939–40)
On 27 September 1939 Marjoribanks was posted as Vice-Consul to Marseilles, France. After the Fall of France, Marjoribanks was part of the negotiations with the Vichy FranceVichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
Government on the role of the French fleet under Admiral Darlan. The Royal Navy destroyed much of this fleet near Oran
Oran
Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...
in 1940. Marjoribanks was also heavily involved in the evacuation of Marseilles.
USA (1940–44)
Marjoribanks next posting on 30 November 1940 was as Consul General to Jacksonville, FloridaJacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, United States, where he emphasised Britain’s determination to fight on and encouraged the Americans to become more active in the war. His personal experience of Japanese and German aggression was very valuable to him when arguing the case for Britain. He came to know the Duke of Windsor
Duke of Windsor
The title Duke of Windsor was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1937 for Prince Edward, the former King Edward VIII, following his abdication in December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a residence of English monarchs since the Norman Conquest, is...
who was governor of the Bahamas at that time. On 13 October 1942 Marjoribanks was moved to New York for two years where he was part of the diplomatic effort to work on the British "special relationship
Special relationship
The Special Relationship is a phrase used to describe the exceptionally close political, diplomatic, cultural, economic, military and historical relations between the United Kingdom and the United States, following its use in a 1946 speech by British statesman Winston Churchill...
" with the American Government.
Romania (1944–45)
In July 1944, Marjoribanks was sent as Political Representative and Consul to BucharestBucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, where he added the Romanian language
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
to the long list of languages he could speak fluently. At that time, King Michael I of Romania
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...
had ousted the pro-Nazi dictator Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
and Romania had become one of countries on the Allied side fighting the Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
. The Russians entered the country and imposed their own communist puppet regime under Petru Groza
Petru Groza
Petru Groza was a Romanian politician, best known as the Prime Minister of the first Communist Party-dominated governments under Soviet occupation during the early stages of the Communist regime in Romania....
. In 1945, Marjoribanks gave the ousted head of the government, General Nicolae Rădescu
Nicolae Radescu
Nicolae Rădescu was a Romanian army officer and political figure. He was the last pre-communist rule Prime Minister of Romania, serving from December 7, 1944 to March 1, 1945....
sanctuary in the British legation and got him out of the country. Marjoribanks thus acquired knowledge of the way the Soviets work. This helped him in his next posting to the Council of Foreign Ministers
Council of Foreign Ministers
Council of Foreign Ministers was an organisation agreed upon at the Potsdam Conference in 1945 and announced in the Potsdam Agreement.The Potsdam Agreement specified that the Council would be composed of the Foreign Ministers of the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China,...
, where the new European boundaries were being decided.
Council of Foreign Ministers (1945–1947)
The British Foreign Office in 1945, appointed Marjoribanks to represent Britain at the Council of Foreign MinistersCouncil of Foreign Ministers
Council of Foreign Ministers was an organisation agreed upon at the Potsdam Conference in 1945 and announced in the Potsdam Agreement.The Potsdam Agreement specified that the Council would be composed of the Foreign Ministers of the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China,...
which was intended to settle territorial questions and conclude post-war peace treaties.
The Ministers met in London and Moscow in 1945 and in Paris in 1946 but difficulties in negotiating with the Russians became apparent. Marjoribanks was as a member of a four-man international team that obtained agreement on redrawing the Franco-Italian border.
Austrian State Treaty (1947–1950)
In November 1947, Marjoribanks was next appointed to be Deputy to the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth AffairsSecretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...
, Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin was a British trade union leader and Labour politician. He served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1945, as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government.-Early...
at the Council of Foreign Ministers with responsibility for representing Britain at the peace treaty negotiations for Austria
Austrian State Treaty
The Austrian State Treaty or Austrian Independence Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state. It was signed on May 15, 1955, in Vienna at the Schloss Belvedere among the Allied occupying powers and the Austrian government...
. It was a protracted process. The negotiations became particularly difficult when Russia started the Berlin Blockade
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War and the first resulting in casualties. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway and road access to the sectors of Berlin under Allied...
which lead to the Berlin Airlift and the Partition of Germany. When the German peace talks at the Council foundered due to Soviet intransigence in 1947, Marjoribanks and his colleagues requested that the Austrian treaty negotiators be allowed to continue which was accepted. To the credit of these negotiators, the talks continued until, after Stalin’s death, the Russians signed the Austrian State Treaty
Austrian State Treaty
The Austrian State Treaty or Austrian Independence Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state. It was signed on May 15, 1955, in Vienna at the Schloss Belvedere among the Allied occupying powers and the Austrian government...
, withdrew from the country and Austria remained outside the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
. This was a rare example of the Soviets withdrawing from occupied territories after the war. The Foreign Service now began to take more notice of this talented diplomat.
Australia (1950–52)
Marjoribanks became very ill with serious blood poisoning, was promoted to Councellor and seconded to the British Commonwealth Relations Office posted on 12 January 1950 to CanberraCanberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, Australia. He worked there as Official Secretary to the British High Commission.
Luxembourg (1952–55)
Marjoribanks then had several important European postings, which were the culmination of his diplomatic career. On 31 August 1952 he was appointed Deputy Head of the British delegation to the European Coal and Steel CommunityEuropean Coal and Steel Community
The European Coal and Steel Community was a six-nation international organisation serving to unify Western Europe during the Cold War and create the foundation for the modern-day developments of the European Union...
in Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
. This was the forerunner of the European Economic Community
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...
and European Union. The head of the delegation was a fellow Scot, the businessman Sir Cecil Weir. Marjoribanks became convinced here that the future for Europe was in closer integration but the political will did not exist in London.
Weir and Marjoribanks posed the following question in one of their first messages to London in 1952: "…whether we have determined in our own minds that we want the [European] integration movement to succeed... If we do want it to succeed, we should surely put behind it the full force of our influence. If we want to cut it short and prevent its development to a political authority which might eventually become a federal state, it would surely be better for us not to wish it success". The Foreign Office replied that European integration would never succeed.
Marjoribanks was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(CMG) on 10 June 1954.
United Kingdom (1955–57)
On 12 September 1955 Marjoribanks was seconded to the British Cabinet OfficeCabinet Office
The Cabinet Office is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for supporting the Prime Minister and Cabinet of the United Kingdom....
for two years. He had strong personal misgivings during the Suez Crisis
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
but in spite of this the Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd
Selwyn Lloyd
John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd, Baron Selwyn-Lloyd CH PC CBE TD , known for most of his career as Selwyn Lloyd, was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Foreign Secretary from 1955 to 1960, then as Chancellor of the Exchequer until 1962...
regarded him with much approval.
Germany (1957–62)
Marjoribanks was next posted to the British Embassy in BonnBonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
on 8 September 1957 as Minister (Economic). He received little encouragement from the British Ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
who regarded trade and commerce as something beneath a gentleman’s dignity and, like the Foreign Office, was lukewarm about European integration
European integration
European integration is the process of industrial, political, legal, economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe...
. In spite of these difficulties, Marjoribanks enthusiastically launched a trade drive for exports from Britain to Germany. With his fluent German, Marjoribanks developed many personal contacts in the business community in Germany – including Ludwig Erhard
Ludwig Erhard
Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is notable for his leading role in German postwar economic reform and economic recovery , particularly in his role as Minister of Economics under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer...
, the author of the German economic miracle. In five years, Marjoribanks achieved a spectacular increase in exports from Britain to Germany that was long remembered after he left Germany.
United Kingdom (1962–65)
On 17 September 1962 Marjoribanks was transferred for three years to London as Assistant Under-Secretary of State to the Foreign Office working for British Foreign Secretary, Reginald MaudlingReginald Maudling
Reginald Maudling was a British politician who held several Cabinet posts, including Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had been spoken of as a prospective Conservative leader since 1955, and was twice seriously considered for the post; he was Edward Heath's chief rival in 1965...
and Sir Alec Douglas-Home.
Belgium (1965–1971)
Marjoribanks was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St GeorgeOrder of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(KCMG) in 1965 and also appointed Ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to the European Economic Community
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...
(EEC) and its sister communities in Brussels. Sir James occupied this post during the protracted negotiations that eventually led to Britain’s acceptance into the EEC. On 12 May 1967 he presented Britain’s ultimately successful application to Renaat Van Elslande, who was in charge of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union
Presidency of the Council of the European Union
The Presidency of the Council of the European Union is the responsibility for the functioning of the Council of the European Union that rotates between the member states of the European Union every six months. The presidency is not a single president but rather the task is undertaken by a national...
. Most of the time, Sir James worked for either the Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart
Michael Stewart, Baron Stewart of Fulham
Robert Michael Maitland Stewart, Baron Stewart of Fulham, CH, PC was a British Labour politician and Fabian Socialist who served twice as Foreign Secretary in the first cabinet of Harold Wilson.- Early life :...
or George Brown
George Brown, Baron George-Brown
George Alfred Brown, Baron George-Brown, PC was a British Labour politician, who served as the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1960 to 1970, and served in a number of positions in the Cabinet, most notably as Foreign Secretary, in the Labour Government of the 1960s...
(both of whom regarded Sir James as highly suitable for this critical post). Finally, he worked for the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home. Marjoribanks and the various Foreign Secretaries succeeded in coming up with new ways of approaching the negotiations for Britain’s entry into the EEC. General Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
raised numerous objections to Britain’s entry which Marjoribanks and the Foreign Secretary of the time were able to overcome. Marjoribanks worked consistently at making useful contacts within the EEC and then astutely advised Whitehall
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
on developments which might affect Britain’s application to enter the Common Market.
In 1971, he retired at the official Foreign Office retirement age of 60 but made no secret of his regret at having to leave the negotiations a year and a half before their final successful outcome. He was widely respected in Brussels and some of the complements he got from his contemporaries when he retired were – best person to manage the British Foreign Secretary George Brown (who was notorious for his temper and rudeness); – loyal, lucid and clear-thinking (France's chief negotiator Jean Marc Boegner); and – an extremely good and skilful negotiator (British Prime Minister Ted Heath).
Retirement
Sir James retired to his beloved Edinburgh where he lived at 13 Regent TerraceRegent Terrace
Regent Terrace is a residential street of 34 classical 3-bay townhouses built on the tail of Calton Hill in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. Regent Terrace is within the Edinburgh New and Old Town UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1995.- Houses :...
and resumed climbing Scottish mountains as he had done in his youth. He was an expert croquet
Croquet
Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...
player, often having discussed tactics with his delegation on the croquet lawn of his Brussels residence.
Sir James was tall and imposing, with a relaxed approach to life. He was an experienced raconteur and, with his keen sense of humour, devised and illustrated various books containing caricatures. He was also an expert at black pen-and-ink drawings.
Sir James was a member of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry
Scottish Council for Development and Industry
The Scottish Council for Development and Industry , founded in 1931, is a non-governmental, membership organisation which aims to strengthen Scotland’s economic competitiveness through influencing government and key stakeholders to create sustainable economic prosperity for Scotland.SCDI has about...
’s Committee on European Regional Policy from 1971–83 and became its Vice-President. He served as a director of the Distillers Company from 1971–75 and, during this time, the full realisation of the problems associated with the drug Thalidomide
Thalidomide
Thalidomide was introduced as a sedative drug in the late 1950s that was typically used to cure morning sickness. In 1961, it was withdrawn due to teratogenicity and neuropathy. There is now a growing clinical interest in thalidomide, and it is introduced as an immunomodulatory agent used...
emerged. In spite of these problems having started long before Sir James joined Distillers, the situation caused him a lot of worry and he became a spokesman for the board. He was also a director of Inveresk Research International, a Scottish research company which did a lot of work for the Pharmaceutical industry. In 1975, Sir James joined the Edinburgh University Court as a General Council
General Council (Scottish university)
The General Council of an ancient university in Scotland is the corporate body of all graduates and senior academics of each university. They were instituted by the Universities Act 1858, but each has had its constitution and organisation considerably altered by subsequent statutes.The Act of...
Assessor. He was the enthusiastic chairman from 1979 to 1990 of a Scottish pro-European pressure group called ‘Scotland in Europe’ which was very successful.
Sir James was also chairman of the Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
Memorial Appeal. This appeal raised money to erect a memorial in Edinburgh and also for children with respiratory disorders. Sir James had grown up in Colinton manse, where Robert Louis Stevenson composed his book A Child's Garden of Verses
A Child's Garden of Verses
A Child's Garden of Verses is a collection of poetry for children by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. The collection first appeared in 1885 under the title Penny Whistles, but has been reprinted many times, often in illustrated versions...
, and thus was an ideal person to take on this responsibility.
Shortly before he died in Edinburgh, he was delighted to be shown the new Euro coins
Euro coins
There are eight euro coin denominations, ranging from one cent to two euros . The coins first came into use in 2002. They have a common reverse, portraying a map of Europe, but each country in the eurozone has its own design on the obverse, which means that each coin has a variety of different...
and notes by his daughter Patricia.
Miscellany
- "Marjoribanks, Sir James Alexander Milne" from Who's WhoWho's Who (UK)Who's Who is an annual British publication of biographies which vary in length of about 30,000 living notable Britons.-History:...
1969–1970, A & C BlackA & C BlackA & C Black is a British book publishing company.The firm was founded in 1807 by Adam and Charles Black in Edinburgh, and moved to the Soho district of London in 1889. In 1851, the firm bought the copyright of Walter Scott's Waverley Novels for £27,000. In 1902 it published P. G...
Ltd., London: - “Marjoribanks, Sir James Alexander Milne KCMG”, In De Laroque, Lucinda (Editor) Debrett'sDebrett'sDebrett’s is a specialist publisher, founded in 1769 with the publication of the first edition of The New Peerage. The name "Debrett's" honours John Debrett...
Handbook 1986, Debrett's Peerage Ltd., London - Unpublished memoirs by Sir James Marjoribanks. In the possession of his daughter Patricia Marjoribanks