David Tatham (born 28 June 1939) is an English former ambassador and

Governor of the Falkland Islands The governor of the Falkland Islands is the representative of the British Crown in the Falkland Islands, acting "in His Majesty's name and on His Majesty's behalf" as the islands' Viceroy in the absence of the British monarch. The role and power ...

, 1992–1996. He was also editor of ''The Dictionary of Falklands Biography''.

Career

David Everard Tatham was educated at

St Lawrence College, Ramsgate St Lawrence College is a co-educational independent school situated in Ramsgate, Kent and has been established as a " public school" ever since it was founded. History The college was founded in 1879 as South Eastern College (colours: gold ...

, and

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street, Oxford, Broad Street and Parks Road ...

. He joined 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 obtain diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

in 1960 and served at

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and, after studying at the

Middle East Centre for Arab Studies The Middle East Centre for Arab Studies (MECAS) was an Arabic language college created by the British Army during World War II in Jerusalem, and relocated afterwards as a civilian institution to Lebanon near Beirut where it functioned between 1947� ...

, at

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...

and

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

as well as at the FCO. He was

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

to the

Yemen Arab Republic The Yemen Arab Republic (YAR; ', ), commonly known as North Yemen or Yemen (Sanaʽa), was a country that existed from 1962 until its Yemeni unification, unification with the South Yemen, People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (commonly known as ...

and concurrently to the

Republic of Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

1984–87; head of the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

department at the FCO 1987–90; Ambassador to the

Lebanese Republic Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

1990–92;

(and

commissioner for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands The commissioner for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is the representative of the British monarch in the United Kingdom's British overseas territories, overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The post is ...

) 1992–96; and High Commissioner to the

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian peninsula by ...

and concurrently to the

Republic of Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about from the Asian c ...

1996–99. Tatham retired from the Diplomatic service on leaving Sri Lanka and was adviser on diplomatic training to the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

in 2000. He was district manager for the

2001 United Kingdom census A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th Census in the United Kingdom, UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organise ...

in the area of

Ledbury Ledbury is a market town and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England, lying east of Hereford, and west of the Malvern Hills. It has a significant number of Tudor style timber-framed structures, in particular along Church Lane a ...

(where he lived) and

Ross-on-Wye Ross-on-Wye is a market town and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, near the border with Wales. It had a population estimated at 10,978 in 2021. It lies in the south-east of the county, on the River Wye and on the northern edge of the Fore ...

, and then embarked on ''The Dictionary of Falklands Biography'', including South Georgia, which was published in 2008 (). He has been chairman of the Falkland Islands Shackleton Scholarship Fund in the UK since 1999, and was chairman of the Falkland Islands Association 2004–11. Tatham was among 52 senior British diplomats who in 2004 signed a letter to

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

, then British Prime Minister, criticising his Middle East policy. The letter was described as "unprecedented in scope and scale".

Honours

The herb '' Phlomis tathamiorum'' is named after Tatham "for voicing the imminence for caring for Lebanon's nature through his activity in Lebanon, and for assisting the authors at starting work for seed banking of Lebanon's natural beauties at

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

as well as collaborating with England's

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

to help create a similar entity for Lebanon." Tatham was appointed CMG in the

1991 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1991 were appointments by Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by people of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. They were published on 28 December 1990 for the United Kingdom, ...

References

TATHAM, David Everard
''Who's Who 2017'', A & C Black, 2017 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2016) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tatham, David 1939 births Living people People educated at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Members of HM Diplomatic Service Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Yemen Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Djibouti Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Lebanon Governors of the Falkland Islands High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Sri Lanka High commissioners of the United Kingdom to the Maldives British biographers Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George 20th-century British diplomats