Sir Joshua Milne Crompton Cheetham (9 July 1869 – 6 January 1938) was a British diplomat. Born in

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

, the son of Joshua Milne Cheetham, MP, he was educated at

Rossall School Rossall School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for 0–18 year olds, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St Vincent Beechey as a sister school to Marlborough College ...

, from which he won a scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford. He studied classics at Oxford, after which he entered the

diplomatic service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited t ...

. He served in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

, Paris, Tokyo, Berlin, Rome and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

before being sent to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...

in January 1910. When the United Kingdom declared its

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its inte ...

over

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

in December 1914, he became acting High Commissioner, pending the arrival of Sir Henry McMahon. He took charge of the British Residency during the spring and fall of 1919, and thus had to confront the 1919 Revolution. He later served in the British embassy in Paris, and was appointed minister to Switzerland in 1922. In 1924, he was appointed minister to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

, after a two-year break in diplomatic relations. He was sent to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

in 1926, and retired in 1928.

Family

Sir Milne Cheetham married twice. His first wife was Anastasia Muravieva (aka Mouravieff) CBE (died 1976), stepdaughter of Nikolay Muraviev, the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

's Minister of Justice and later ambassador to Italy. They married in 1907 and divorced in 1923. They had one son, Nicolas (1910–2002), who followed in his father's footsteps and went on to have a successful career in the diplomatic service. Cheetham's second wife was Cynthia Charlette Seymour (d. 1968), whom he married on 11 July 1923. She was the daughter of Sir Horace Alfred Damer Seymour and Elizabeth Mary Romilly.

Decorations

Sir Milne Cheetham received the

King George V Coronation Medal The King George V Coronation Medal was a commemorative medal instituted in 1911 to celebrate the coronation of King George V, that took place on 22 June 1911. Award It was the first British Royal commemorative medal to be awarded to people who ...

in 1911 and was made a 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 IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in hono ...

in 1915.

References

1869 births 1938 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Switzerland Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Denmark High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Egypt Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George People educated at Rossall School People from Preston, Lancashire Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Greece {{UK-diplomat-stub