Sir John Burns Ure KCMG LVO FRGS (5 July 1931 – 19 September 2023) was a British diplomat who was ambassador to Cuba, Brazil and Sweden, and an author.
Life and career John Burns Ure was born on 5 July 1931, and was educated at Uppingham School. After active service as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in Malaya, 1950–51, he read history at Magdalene College, Cambridge before joining the Foreign Service in 1956. Besides various posts at the Foreign Office he was 3rd Secretary (and private secretary to the Ambassador), Moscow, 1957–59; 2nd Secretary, Léopoldville, 1962–63; First Secretary (Commercial), Santiago, 1967–70; Counsellor, and intermittently Chargé d'Affaires, Lisbon, 1972–77; Ambassador to Cuba 1979–81; Ambassador to Brazil 1984–87 and Ambassador to Sweden 1987–91. During his career he attended the six-week Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
After retiring from the Diplomatic Service, Sir John was a non-executive director of companies including Thomas Cook and Sotheby's Scandinavia, and served on the council of the Royal Geographical Society of which he was a Life Fellow.
John Ure was appointed a Member (4th Class) of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) in 1968,This appointment, alongside Frederick Mason the Ambassador to Chile, followed the Queen's visit to Chile in November 1968. and appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1980 Birthday Honours and promoted to Knight Commander of that Order (KCMG) in the 1987 New Year Honours. In 1973 he was made a Commander in the Portuguese Military Order of Christ.
In Who's Who, John Ure gives his recreation as "Travelling uncomfortably in remote places and writing about it comfortably afterwards."
Sir John Ure died on 19 September 2023, at the age of 92.
Bibliography
Books Cucumber Sandwiches in the Andes, Constable, London, 1973. Prince Henry the Navigator, Constable, London, 1977. The Trail of Tamerlane, Constable, London, 1980. The Quest for Captain Morgan, Constable, London, 1983. Trespassers on the Amazon, Constable, London, 1986. contribution to: Royal Geographical Society History of World Exploration (Central and South America sections), Hamlyn, London, 1991. A Bird on the Wing: Bonnie Prince Charlie's Flight from Culloden Retraced, Constable, London, 1992. Diplomatic Bag: An Anthology of Diplomatic Incidents and Anecdotes from the Renaissance to the Gulf War (ed.), John Murray, London, 1994. The Cossacks, Constable, London, 1999. In Search of Nomads: An English Obsession from Hester Stanhope to Bruce Chatwin, Constable, London, 2003. Pilgrimage: The Great Adventure of the Middle Ages, Constable, London, 2006. contribution to: The Seventy Great Journeys in History (ed. Robin Hanbury-Tenison), Thames & Hudson, London, 2006. Shooting Leave: Spying out Central Asia in the Great Game, Constable, London, 2009. contribution to: The Great Explorers (ed. Robin Hanbury-Tenison), Thames & Hudson, London, 2010. Sabres on the Steppes: Danger, Diplomacy and Adventures in the Great Game, Constable, London, 2012. Beware the Rugged Russian Bear: British Adventurers Confronting the Early Bolsheviks, Old Street, London, 2015.
Book reviews YearReview articleWork(s) reviewed2014
References
John Ure at Little Brown, publishers Sir John Ure – Speakers Agency Tunisia's ancient history – The Daily Telegraph