Edward Youde

Sir Edward Youde GCMG , GCVO , MBE ( Chinese  尤德 ; born June 19, 1924 in Penarth , Glamorgan , Wales ; † December 4, 1986 in Beijing ) was a British diplomat and governor .

biography

Youde completed his military service in the Royal Navy from 1943 to 1946 after attending school during the Second World War and then entered the diplomatic service of the Foreign Office in 1947 . After the induction period, he worked for the first time at the embassy in Beijing between 1948 and 1951 , where he saw the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949 . During his further career he was employed in the State Department between 1951 and 1953, then again in the People's Republic of China, and later from 1956 to 1959 as First Secretary at the Embassy in the USA . After renewed activities from 1960 to 1962 in Beijing and from 1962 to 1965 in the Foreign Ministry, he was Consul and Chancellor of the Permanent Mission to the United Nations (UN) in New York City between 1965 and 1969 .

In 1971 he returned to London and was Head of Personnel Services until 1973 and then Assistant to the Undersecretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office until 1974.

He was then appointed ambassador to the People's Republic of China and held this office between 1974 and 1978. Due to his previous activities at the embassy there, the expert on Chinese culture and the political system of the People's Republic of China proved to be an expert during this time after the death of Mao Zedong and the overthrow of the gang of four . During this time he was named Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1977.

After his return in 1978 he was initially Deputy Undersecretary of State and was then Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1980 and 1982 . As such, as Chief Clerk, he was responsible for the entire British diplomatic service worldwide.

On May 26, 1982 he returned to China again and succeeded Murray MacLehose as the new governor of Hong Kong . He was instrumental in the so-called Sino-British Agreement of 1984, through which the return of the crown colony to the People's Republic of China was agreed in 1997. In his capacity as governor, he was also President of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Legislative Council of Hong Kong).

After he died in office on December 4, 1986, he was succeeded by the administrator David Akers-Jones as acting governor on April 27, 1987, David Wilson, Baron Wilson of Tillyorn as the new governor.

Web links

• rulers.org

predecessor	Office	successor
Murray MacLehose	Hong Kong Governor 1982–1986	David Akers-Jones (acting)