Sir Owen St Clair O'Malley (4 May 1887 – 16 April 1974) was a British diplomat. He was Minister to Hungary between 1939 and 1941. He was British ambassador to the Polish government in exile in London during World War II. From July 1945 until May 1947, he was Ambassador to Portugal.

Background and education

O'Malley was born in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

, the son of Sir Edward Loughlin O'Malley. He was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, an ...

and

Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

Diplomatic career

O'Malley entered the Foreign Office in 1911. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, serving as British Ambassador to

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

in 1941, O'Malley helped British secret agents Andrzej Kowerski and

Krystyna Skarbek Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek, (, ; 1 May 1908 – 15 June 1952), also known as Christine Granville, was a Polish agent of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. She became celebrated for her daring exploi ...

escape eastern Europe as German forces were advancing. He was appointed ambassador to the

Polish government-in-exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...

in February 1943. He is particularly noted for his incisive report sent on 24 May 1943 to the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, on the

Katyn Massacre The Katyn massacre, "Katyń crime"; russian: link=yes, Катынская резня ''Katynskaya reznya'', "Katyn massacre", or russian: link=no, Катынский расстрел, ''Katynsky rasstrel'', "Katyn execution" was a series of m ...

indicating the likelihood of

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

guilt and the moral issues raised. Besides his report on Katyn, O'Malley was also critical of Churchill's role in acceding to Stalin in Stalin's demands regarding the frontiers of Polish territory after the war. O'Malley raised questions about the British government's complicity in the annexation of another country's territory and whether "the basis of

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

is to be law or an exhibition of

power politics Power politics is a theory in international relations which contends that distributions of power and national interests, or changes to those distributions, are fundamental causes of war and of system stability. The concept of power politics pro ...

".Cloud, Stanley and Olson, Lynne, ''A Question of Honor'', p. 304, Vintage Books. He was appointed a CMG in 1927 and a KCMG in 1947.

Personal life

In 1913, on holiday in Scotland, O'Malley met Mary Ann Dolling Sanders (1889–1974), who later became a novelist using the pseudonym of

Ann Bridge Ann Bridge (11 September 1889 – 9 March 1974) is the pseudonym of Mary Ann Dolling (Sanders), Lady O'Malley, also known as Cottie Sanders. Bridge wrote 14 novels, mostly based on her experiences living in foreign countries, one book of short ...

. They were married on 25 October 1913 and had two daughters and a son. Sir Owen O'Malley died on 16 April 1974 at 27 Charlbury Road, Oxford, five weeks after the death of his wife.

Bibliography

* Cloud, Stanley and Olson, Lynne, A Question of Honor, pg. 304, Vintage Books. * Rees, Laurence, ''World War II: Behind Closed Doors — Stalin, The Nazis and the West'',

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasti ...

, 2008, page 186. * Mulloy, Shelia, ''O'Malley: People and Places'', Ballinakella Press, 1986. * West, Diana, ''American Betrayal'', pp: 204-205, St. Martin's Press, 2013.

References

External links

O'Malley, Sir Owen St Clair
in the

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

Despatch from Sir Owen O’Malley, 24 May 1943Images of Sir Owen St Clair O'Malley
in the National Portrait Gallery (London) {{DEFAULTSORT:Omalley, Owen 1887 births 1974 deaths People from Eastbourne British people of Irish descent People educated at Rugby School People educated at Radley College Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Poland Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Hungary Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Portugal Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Katyn massacre investigators