Douglas Laird Busk (1906–1990) was a British diplomat, mountaineer and geographer.

Personal life

Busk was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 15 July 1906 and educated at Eton, the

Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz is an international boarding school in Zuoz, near St. Moritz in Switzerland. Founded in 1904, it is located in the upper part of the alpine village in the area of Surmulins. There are around 300 pupils, including 220 in the ...

and

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

, also spending some time at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He married Bridget Hemsley Thompson in 1937, and they had two daughters. Bridget was an artist and her line drawings illustrate his books ''The Delectable Mountains'' and ''The Fountain of the Sun ''. He died on 11 December 1990, aged 84, at Chilbolton.

Diplomatic career

Busk joined the diplomatic service in 1927 and served in several countries in a junior role, including Iran, Hungary, Japan and Turkey. He was posted to

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

in November 1941, just before the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...

. Ten days after his arrival, when the Ambassador was at the American Embassy, he "was pressed to accept an ideographic Declaration of War". Along with all other Allied diplomats in Japanese territory he was interned for 8 months until Allied and Japanese diplomats were formally exchanged in 1942. On 30 July 1942, Craigie, the ambassador, and the other embassy staff left Japan on board the Tatsuta Maru, returning to Britain via Lourenço Marques in East Africa (today

Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

). Whilst in Turkey Busk employed a nursemaid to look after their children, the nursemaid was a mistress of the

nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ''e ...

Elyesa Bazna Elyesa Bazna (), sometimes known as Ilyaz and Iliaz Bazna (; 28 July 1904 – 21 December 1970), was a espionage, secret agent for Nazi Germany during World War II, operating under the code name Cicero. In 1943, Bazna was hired as a valet ...

and Busk went on to employ Bazna as a valet. Busk was first secretary and head of chancery at the embassy and he introduced Bazna to

Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen Sir Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull-Hugessen (26 March 1886 – 21 March 1971) was a British diplomat, civil servant and author. He is best remembered as the diplomat whose secrets were stolen by his Kosovar Albanian Elyesa Bazna, valet and passed ...

, the ambassador, who went on to employ Bazna as chauffeur and valet from November 1943 to March 1944. Busk also served in Iraq and from 1946-1948, he was acting head of mission from late 1947-early 1948 because the ambassador was unwell, this meant that he had responsibility for the Baghdad side of UK-Iraq relations which included the Iraqi monarch's plans to renew the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930, an intention which led to the

Al-Wathbah uprising The Al-Wathbah uprising () or simply Al-Wathbah (), which means The Leap in Arabic, was the term that came to be used for the urban unrest in Baghdad in January 1948. The protests were sparked by the monarchy's plans to renew the 1930 Anglo-Iraqi ...

. He served as Britain's ambassador to Ethiopia (1952–1956), Finland (1958–1960) and Venezuela (1961–1964). In the early 1960s Venezuela had just emerged from rule by a

military junta A military junta () is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''Junta (governing body), junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the Junta (Peninsular War), national and local junta organized by t ...

, the

1963 Venezuelan general election General elections were held in Venezuela on 1 December 1963.Dieter Nohlen (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II'', p555 The presidential elections were won by Raúl Leoni of the Democratic Action political party, who r ...

was held on 1 December. On December 4, in a wave of incidents in Caracas, terrorists launched a machine-gun attack on the embassy from a passing car, Lady Busk was inside the residence but was uninjured.

Mountaineering

Busk was a notable mountaineer, gaining membership of the

Alpine Club Alpine clubs are typically large social clubs that revolve around climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Many alpine clubs also take on aspects typically reserved for local sport associations, providing education and training courses, se ...

while an undergraduate, after making the first winter ascent of the north face of

Pic du Midi d'Ossau The Pic du Midi d'Ossau (; ; 2,884 m) is a mountain rising above the Ossau Valley in the French Pyrenees. Despite possessing neither a glacier nor, in the context of the range, a particularly high summit, its distinctive shape makes it a symbo ...

. Towards the end of his time at Princeton he visited the

Rockies The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

and Banff on a climbing tour. Whilst in the Ramparts, they attempted the first ascent of Redoubt Peak, , a mountain on which two climbers, F. H. Slark and F. Rutishauser, had disappeared without trace the previous year. Busk was climbing with Joe Johnson and Hans Fuhrer. On a ledge Fuhrer found ''"Slark’s rucksack with a pair of mountain boots in addition to the rest of the stuff; these were small boots, and from his size Slark must have had big feet, so I think it probable that Rutis was climbing in stockinged feet on the cliffs directly below the summit when they fell. It was a place we looked at in horror, and circumnavigated. I am firmly convinced that they fell and were not struck by falling stones"'', on the summit they found a tin containing the names of the missing climbers. Busk inferred that Slark and Rutishauser ascended the W. ridge and were trying to descend the S. face when the accident occurred. Busk's party also made the first ascent of Casemate, . Busk wrote that he tried to "make the most and hope for the best of any post" and during each diplomatic posting he found time to explore some of the 'local' mountaineering challenges. It was not unknown for Busk to recruit mountaineers passing through his postings to join him on such excursions. He recounted some of his mountain activities in Iran in the

Alpine Journal The ''Alpine Journal'' (''AJ'') is an annual publication by the Alpine Club of London. It is the oldest mountaineering journal in the world. History The journal was first published on 2 March 1863 by the publishing house of Longman in London, ...

and also those in Ethiopia, including the Batu Range which, as far as Busk could ascertain, had not previously been visited by any European party. Whilst stationed in Ethiopia he travelled by road from

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

to the

Ruwenzori Mountains The Rwenzori (also known as the Ruwenzori, Rwenzururu or Rwenjura) are a mountain range, range of mountains in eastern equatorial Africa, located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The highest peak of the Ruw ...

where, with Arthur Firmin, he climbed two previously unidentified peaks on the south ridge of

Mount Stanley Mount Stanley, also known as Mount Ngaliema (, also , ), is a mountain located in the Rwenzori range. With an elevation of 5,109 m (16,763 ft), it is the highest mountain of both the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, and th ...

. Whilst in Venezuela in the early 1960s, he made regular visits to the

Sierra Nevada de Mérida The Sierra Nevada de Mérida is the highest mountain range in the largest massif in Venezuela, the Cordillera de Mérida, which in turn is part of the northern extent of the Cordillera de los Andes (Andes Mountains). The Sierra Nevada de Mérida i ...

and one of his visits there resulted in the

first ascents In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers and climbers focused ...

of the rock spire of El Vertigo and of the south-west face of El Abanic, one member of that party was

George Band George Christopher Band (2 February 1929 – 26 August 2011) was an English mountaineer. He was the youngest climber on the 1953 British expedition to Mount Everest on which Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to ascend the mou ...

who had made the first ascent of

Kangchenjunga Kangchenjunga is the third-highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the Tamur River, in the north by the Lhonak River and Jongsang La, and ...

. His obituary in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' said that his "greatest contribution" was his work as chairman of the library of the Alpine Club, culminating in the production of a 600-page catalogue and the 1981 exhibition "The Treasures of the Alpine Club".

Recognition

Busk was appointed

Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(KCMG) in the 1959 Birthday Honours. The

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

, of which he was honorary vice-president, awards an annual Busk Medal named in his honour.

Selected publications

* * * * * * ''On

Armand Charlet Armand Charlet (9 February 1900, Argentière – December 1975) was a French mountaineer and mountain guide. Alpinism Charlet was amongst the most celebrated mountaineers and guides of his era. Alain de Chatellus regarded him as the "undisp ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Busk, Douglas 1906 births 1990 deaths British geographers British mountain climbers Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Ethiopia Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Finland Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Venezuela People educated at Eton College Alumni of New College, Oxford Alumni of Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz 20th-century British diplomats Members of HM Diplomatic Service