Cicely Elizabeth Mayhew, Baroness Mayhew (''née'' Ludlam; 16 February 1924 – 8 July 2016) was a British diplomat. She was the second woman to work for the British

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

, and its first female diplomat.

Early life

She was born on 16 February 1924. Her father, C.S Ludlam, was a metallurgist and artisanal miner who made his money in copper in

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in Southern Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North ...

, now

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

. He mined and produced around 1,523 tonnes of blister copper containing about 70,000 oz. (2,170 kg) of silver in the Mumbwa district. She grew up in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. She attended Loreto Convent School, Pretoria from 1929 to 1932. Her formal education was interrupted for two years while she and her mother accompanied her father on prospecting expeditions in Tanzania and Uganda, helping him to pan for gold near

Entebbe Entebbe is a city in Central Region, Uganda, Central Uganda which is located on Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda pri ...

. At age 10 she returned to Britain to be educated and did not see her mother again until her twenties. She attended Sheffield High School, living with her aunts. She then won a scholarship to Cheltenham Ladies College, where one of the teachers was a German Jewish refugee; she went on to read French and German at

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, located on a bank of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The ...

, graduating after only two years in 1944 with a First.

Career

In 1944, near the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, she was recruited by British naval intelligence and worked at

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and Bletchley Park estate, estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Allies of World War II, Allied World War II cryptography, code-breaking during the S ...

, in Hut 8, translating decoded German Navy signals. After the war she was appointed as the UK's first woman diplomat. Her first posting as 3rd Secretary at the

was to

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, and then to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. On her marriage in 1949 she was required to leave the service and her pension was converted to a dowry under rules which the Foreign Office maintained until 1973. Mayhew created a crucial pathway for women by becoming “the kings first female emissary" in 1947. Mayhew came up against previous barriers during her time spent at Bletchley Park decoding crucial messages, encountering issues which women faced during the wartime, which were hard to overcome. One of the main issues Mayhew encountered was in regards to “being paid significantly lower and being ranked beneath men,” who as Mayhew stated “could not boast a First from Oxford.”

Personal life

In 1949 she married Christopher Mayhew, the politician, broadcaster and writer, whom she met when they were both in the diplomatic service, and they had two sons and two daughters. He died in 1997. She spent her later years in a care home in

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

, and died on 8 July 2016.

Legacy

In March 2019, the Mayhew Theatre at the

's Diplomatic Academy was opened by

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge William, Prince of Wales (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982), is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales. William was born during the reign of his pat ...

. The theatre was named after Mayhew following a vote amongst Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) staff in which she was the runaway winner.

Published works

References