Archibald Clerk-Kerr, 1st Baron Inverchapel
Encyclopedia
Archibald Clark Kerr, 1st Baron Inverchapel GCMG
, PC (17 March 1882, Australia
– 5 July 1951), known as Sir Archibald Clark Kerr between 1935 and 1946, was a British diplomat. He served as Ambassador to the Soviet Union between 1942 and 1946 and to the United States between 1946 and 1948.
n-born Scot
, Clark Kerr was born Archibald Kerr Clark, the son of John Kerr Clerk and Kate Louisa, daughter of Sir John Struan Robertson. In 1911 he assumed the surname of Kerr in addition to that of Clark.
He attended Bath College from 1892 to 1900.
He distinguished himself enough in these posts to secure a prestigious appointment as Ambassador to China between 1938 and 1942 during the Japanese occupation.
In the ensuing years, he developed a close relationship with Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek and spent most of his posting explaining why Britain could not offer him any substantive aid in his struggle against the Japanese invaders.
He argued for British aid to China based upon humanitarian concerns, the preservation of British economic influence, and the principle of national self-determination. Despite the lack of substantive aid from Britain, he impressed the Chinese with his interest in Confucian philosophy. He also impressed the Chinese with his determination. After the British consulate in Chungking was almost completely destroyed by Japanese bombing in 1940, other diplomatic missions evacuated, but he kept the Union Jack flying close to Chinese government buildings. He regularly swam in the Yangtze River, and after meeting American writer Ernest Hemingway
he dismissed him derisively: “Tough? Why, I’m tougher than he is!” .
He was moved to Moscow in February 1942 where he forged a remarkable relationship with Stalin
and facilitated a number of Anglo-Soviet diplomatic conferences. His work there and at the Big Three Conferences (such as Yalta and Potsdam) put him at the center of international politics during the final, pivotal years of the Second World War. Throughout his posting in Moscow he sought clearer direction from the Foreign Office in London. Lacking it, he often fall back upon a directive you received from Churchill in February 1943: “You want a directive? All right. I don’t mind kissing Stalin’s bum, but I’m damned if I’ll lick his arse!"
As the war neared its end, Kerr became increasingly concerned about Soviet plans for the post-war world. He did not think that they planned to begin spreading world revolution, but he did think that they were preparing to exert their influence well beyond their pre-war sphere of influence. He voiced deep-seated concerns about Soviet expansionism for the first time in a lengthy memorandum on Soviet policy dated 31 August 1944. In the memo, he forecast three likely results of the war: the removal of any immediate threat to Soviet security, the consolidation of Stalin’s dominant position, and the Soviet use of Communist Parties in other countries to serve interests of “Russia as a state as distinct from Russia as a revolutionary notion.” This closely resembled the conclusions that George F. Kennan
included in a telegram to Washington a few months later.
After the war Clerk Kerr was appointed Ambassador to the United States, a post he held until 1948. An acquaintance of Guy Burgess
and Donald Duart Maclean
's superior in Washington, he took their defection to the USSR
badly, the shock hastening his early death in 1951. Clark Kerr was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
(KCMG) in 1935 and a Knight Grand Cross in 1942 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1944. In 1946 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Inverchapel, of Loch Eck in the County of Argyll.
before his marriage, divorce, and re-marriage, to a Chilean lady 29 years his junior. Politically on the left, a noted wit
and unconventional in manner, he was sometimes suspected of excessive understanding for the Soviet position. His biographer, Donald Gillies, considers rumoured pro-Soviet sympathies highly unlikely.
Inverchapel is best remembered in the public imagination for a much reproduced note he is said to have written in 1943 to Lord Pembroke
while Ambassador to Moscow.
"My Dear Reggie,
In these dark days man tends to look for little shafts of light that spill from Heaven. My days are probably darker than yours, and I need, my God I do, all the light I can get. But I am a decent fellow, and I do not want to be mean and selfish about what little brightness is shed upon me from time to time. So I propose to share with you a tiny flash that has illuminated my sombre life and tell you that God has given me a new Turkish colleague whose card tells me that he is called Mustapha Kunt.
We all feel like that, Reggie, now and then, especially when Spring is upon us, but few of us would care to put it on our cards. It takes a Turk to do that.
Sir Archibald Clark Kerr
H.M. Ambassador"
Lord Inverchapel married Maria Teresa, daughter of Don Javier Diaz Lira, of Santiago
, Chile
, in 1929. He died in July 1951, aged 69. The barony died with him as he had no children.
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....
, PC (17 March 1882, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
– 5 July 1951), known as Sir Archibald Clark Kerr between 1935 and 1946, was a British diplomat. He served as Ambassador to the Soviet Union between 1942 and 1946 and to the United States between 1946 and 1948.
Background
An AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n-born Scot
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
, Clark Kerr was born Archibald Kerr Clark, the son of John Kerr Clerk and Kate Louisa, daughter of Sir John Struan Robertson. In 1911 he assumed the surname of Kerr in addition to that of Clark.
He attended Bath College from 1892 to 1900.
Diplomatic career
Clark Kerr entered the Foreign Service in 1906. Early on, he made the mistake of challenging the Foreign Office over its Egyptian policy. Consequently, he found himself posted to a series of capitals in Latin America. He was Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to various Central American republics between 1925 and 1928, to Chile between 1928 and 1930, to Sweden between 1931 and 1934 and to Iraq between 1935 and 1938.He distinguished himself enough in these posts to secure a prestigious appointment as Ambassador to China between 1938 and 1942 during the Japanese occupation.
In the ensuing years, he developed a close relationship with Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek and spent most of his posting explaining why Britain could not offer him any substantive aid in his struggle against the Japanese invaders.
He argued for British aid to China based upon humanitarian concerns, the preservation of British economic influence, and the principle of national self-determination. Despite the lack of substantive aid from Britain, he impressed the Chinese with his interest in Confucian philosophy. He also impressed the Chinese with his determination. After the British consulate in Chungking was almost completely destroyed by Japanese bombing in 1940, other diplomatic missions evacuated, but he kept the Union Jack flying close to Chinese government buildings. He regularly swam in the Yangtze River, and after meeting American writer Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
he dismissed him derisively: “Tough? Why, I’m tougher than he is!” .
He was moved to Moscow in February 1942 where he forged a remarkable relationship with Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
and facilitated a number of Anglo-Soviet diplomatic conferences. His work there and at the Big Three Conferences (such as Yalta and Potsdam) put him at the center of international politics during the final, pivotal years of the Second World War. Throughout his posting in Moscow he sought clearer direction from the Foreign Office in London. Lacking it, he often fall back upon a directive you received from Churchill in February 1943: “You want a directive? All right. I don’t mind kissing Stalin’s bum, but I’m damned if I’ll lick his arse!"
As the war neared its end, Kerr became increasingly concerned about Soviet plans for the post-war world. He did not think that they planned to begin spreading world revolution, but he did think that they were preparing to exert their influence well beyond their pre-war sphere of influence. He voiced deep-seated concerns about Soviet expansionism for the first time in a lengthy memorandum on Soviet policy dated 31 August 1944. In the memo, he forecast three likely results of the war: the removal of any immediate threat to Soviet security, the consolidation of Stalin’s dominant position, and the Soviet use of Communist Parties in other countries to serve interests of “Russia as a state as distinct from Russia as a revolutionary notion.” This closely resembled the conclusions that George F. Kennan
George F. Kennan
George Frost Kennan was an American adviser, diplomat, political scientist and historian, best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War...
included in a telegram to Washington a few months later.
After the war Clerk Kerr was appointed Ambassador to the United States, a post he held until 1948. An acquaintance of Guy Burgess
Guy Burgess
Guy Francis De Moncy Burgess was a British-born intelligence officer and double agent, who worked for the Soviet Union. He was part of the Cambridge Five spy ring that betrayed Western secrets to the Soviets before and during the Cold War...
and Donald Duart Maclean
Donald Duart Maclean
Donald Duart Maclean was a British diplomat and member of the Cambridge Five who were members of MI5, MI6 or the diplomatic service who acted as spies for the Soviet Union in the Second World War and beyond. He was recruited as a "straight penetration agent" while an undergraduate at Cambridge by...
's superior in Washington, he took their defection to the USSR
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
badly, the shock hastening his early death in 1951. Clark Kerr was appointed a Knight Commander 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....
(KCMG) in 1935 and a Knight Grand Cross in 1942 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1944. In 1946 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Inverchapel, of Loch Eck in the County of Argyll.
Personal life
Lord Inverchapel's personal life has been described as colourful: a close confidant of the Kaiser's sister in the years before the Great War, he was also a disappointed suitor of the Queen MotherElizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
before his marriage, divorce, and re-marriage, to a Chilean lady 29 years his junior. Politically on the left, a noted wit
Wit
Wit is a form of intellectual humour, and a wit is someone skilled in making witty remarks. Forms of wit include the quip and repartee.-Forms of wit:...
and unconventional in manner, he was sometimes suspected of excessive understanding for the Soviet position. His biographer, Donald Gillies, considers rumoured pro-Soviet sympathies highly unlikely.
Inverchapel is best remembered in the public imagination for a much reproduced note he is said to have written in 1943 to Lord Pembroke
Reginald Herbert, 15th Earl of Pembroke
Reginald Herbert, 15th Earl of Pembroke and 12th Earl of Montgomery was a British peer. He married Lady Beatrice Eleanor Paget Reginald Herbert, 15th Earl of Pembroke and 12th Earl of Montgomery (8 September 1880-13 January 1960) was a British peer. He married Lady Beatrice Eleanor Paget Reginald...
while Ambassador to Moscow.
"My Dear Reggie,
In these dark days man tends to look for little shafts of light that spill from Heaven. My days are probably darker than yours, and I need, my God I do, all the light I can get. But I am a decent fellow, and I do not want to be mean and selfish about what little brightness is shed upon me from time to time. So I propose to share with you a tiny flash that has illuminated my sombre life and tell you that God has given me a new Turkish colleague whose card tells me that he is called Mustapha Kunt.
We all feel like that, Reggie, now and then, especially when Spring is upon us, but few of us would care to put it on our cards. It takes a Turk to do that.
Sir Archibald Clark Kerr
H.M. Ambassador"
Lord Inverchapel married Maria Teresa, daughter of Don Javier Diaz Lira, of Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, in 1929. He died in July 1951, aged 69. The barony died with him as he had no children.
External links
- Clark Kerr's letter to Lord Pembroke
- Another view of the letter
- Photograph of Clark Kerr at the National Portrait Gallery.
