Sir Denis Seward Laskey (18 January 1916 – 16 October 1987) was a British ambassador to Romania and Austria.

Career

Denis Seward Laskey was educated at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. It was founded as Marlborough School in 1843 by the Dean of Manchester, George ...

and

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

. He joined the

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 ...

in 1939, served briefly in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

1940–41, then returned to the Foreign Office until the end of the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, when he was posted to Berlin and later to the UK delegation to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

in New York. He was Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary (

Selwyn Lloyd John Selwyn Brooke Selwyn-Lloyd, Baron Selwyn-Lloyd (28 July 1904 – 17 May 1978), was a British politician who served as Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons from 1971 to 1976, having previously hel ...

) 1956–59, Minister (second to the

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 ...

) at Rome 1960–64,

Permanent Under-Secretary A permanent under-secretary of state, known informally as a permanent secretary, is the most senior civil servant of a ministry in the United Kingdom, charged with running the department on a day-to-day basis. Permanent secretaries are appointe ...

at the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

1964–67, Minister at

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

1967–68, Ambassador to Romania 1969–71 and Ambassador to Austria 1972–75. Laskey was appointed CMG in the

1957 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1957 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lon ...

, CVO in the 1958 Birthday Honours and knighted KCMG in the

1974 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1974 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countrie ...

References

LASKEY, Sir Denis (Seward)
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012
Sir Denis Laskey
(obituary), ''The Times'', London, 19 October 1987, page 18 {{DEFAULTSORT:Laskey, Denis Seward 1916 births 1987 deaths People educated at Marlborough College Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford British Army personnel of World War II Principal Private Secretaries to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Romania Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Austria Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order