Hugh Mackintosh Foot, Baron Caradon, GCMG, KCVO, OBE, PC (8 October 1907 – 5 September 1990) was a British
colonial administrator and diplomat who presided over moves to Independence in various colonies and was UK representative to
the United Nations. Hugh Mackintosh Foot
was born in Plymouth in Devon, England, on 8 October 1907. He was educated at Leighton
Park School in Reading, Berkshire, and went on to study at St John's College, Cambridge, where he
graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree
in 1929.[1] He was President
of the Cambridge Union and also of
the Cambridge University Liberal Club.
His three politically active brothers, Dingle, John and Michael, were all educated at Oxford and all became Presidents of the Oxford
Union. Hugh Foot's career in the diplomatic service was both long and
distinguished. In Mandatory Palestine, he served as the assistant district commissioner for
the Nablus region. During the Second
World War he was appointed as British Military
Administrator of Cyrenaica, and served as
Colonial Secretary of Cyprus from
1943 to 1945. After the War, he served as Colonial Secretary of Jamaica, 1945–47, Chief Secretary for Nigeria, 1947–50 and was appointed to be the Captain-General and
Governor-in-Chief of Jamaica in 1951, a post he held until 1957. He returned to
Cyprus as the last colonial Governor and Commander in Chief in 1957 until 1960,
when Cyprus gained independence. In 1961,
he became British Ambassador to the United Nations Trusteeship Council. After
the Labour Party won the 1964 general election, Foot became Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
and British Ambassador to the United Nations from 1964 to 1970. During his tenure as Permanent Representative,
he was sworn of the Privy Council in
the 1968 New Year Honours. After his retirement,
he became a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University and Princeton University. In 1964 Foot was granted a life peerage as Baron
Caradon, of St Cleer in the
County of Cornwall, the title referring
to Caradon Hill on Bodmin
Moor, not far from Trematon Castle, which was his country home. He jokingly claimed to be
glad to be divested of the surname "Foot", which he considered a
standing invitation to wags, as he liked to illustrate by recalling a telegram
his father received on his election to parliament: "Foot, congratulations
on your feat!" Foot was an active freemason. Foot was appointed Officer
of the Order of the
British Empire (OBE) in the 1939 New
Year Honours and elevated Companion of the Order
of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1946
Birthday Honours. He was elevated Knight Commander of
the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG)
in the 1951 New Year Honours and was appointed Knight Commander of the Royal
Victorian Order (KCVO) on 27 November 1953. In
the 1957 Birthday Honours, he was
elevated a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St
George (GCMG).