Sir Eric Alfred Berthoud KCMG (10 December 1900 – 29 April 1989) was an oil man and

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

who served as the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

ambassador to

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

(1952–1956) and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

(1956–1960).

Early life and education

Berthoud was born in

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into one sovereign state, established by the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801. It continued in this form until ...

, son of Alfred Edward Berthoud, a partner in the

merchant bank A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage, it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in comm ...

Coulon, Berthoud & Co., and his wife, Hélène Christ, who was a member of a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

banking family. He was their second son and had three brothers and two sisters. While he was at school, his father's bank collapsed. His father became an

alcoholic Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Hea ...

and died in 1920. After five years at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a private school (English fee-charging boarding and day school) in Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Baccalaureate schools in England. The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a f ...

Holt, Norfolk Holt is a market town and civil parish in the county of Norfolk, England. The town is north of the city of Norwich, west of Cromer and east of King's Lynn. The town has a population of 3,550, rising and including the ward to 3,810 at the 201 ...

,''I Will Plant Me a Tree: an Illustrated History of Gresham's School'' by S. G. G. Benson and Martin Crossley Evans (James & James, London, 2002) he went up to

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

. He played

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

for

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

and took a degree in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

in 1922.

Career

From 1922 to 1926, Berthoud worked for the

Anglo-Austrian Bank The Anglo-Österreichische Bank (), in shorthand Anglobank, was a bank founded in Vienna in 1863 with an extensive branch network in the Habsburg Monarchy and later in its successor states, primarily First Austrian Republic, Austria and Czechosl ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, and

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 ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, then joined the

Anglo-Persian Oil Company The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC; ) was a British company founded in 1909 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Persia (Iran). The British government purchased 51% of the company in 1914, gaining a controlling numbe ...

(later BP), serving in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, from 1926 to 1929, in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, from 1929 to 1935, and then in Paris again, from 1935 to 1938. When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Berthoud joined the Ministry of Fuel and Power and was attached to the British legation in Bucharest. In January 1941, Britain broke off relations with Kingdom of Romania, Romania and the legation was closed. Berthoud spent the next four years on missions aimed at securing oil for the Allies. In 1945 he was at the Allied Commission, Allied Control Commission for Allied-occupied Austria, then worked on European peace treaties and on the Marshall Plan. He was assistant under-secretary in the Foreign Office from 1948 to 1952, then ambassador to

(1952–1956) and

(1956–1960). He retired in May 1960. In retirement, Berthoud became a non-executive director of some BP boards. He worked for the United World Colleges and the Anglo-Polish round-table conferences. He was the founding Chairman of the new University of Essex (1965) and in 1969 became Deputy lieutenant of Essex. He died in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Family

In 1927, Berthoud married Ruth Tilston, daughter of Sir Charles Bright, an engineer and fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. They had three sons and two daughters. One son died very young.

Honours

* Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George, 1945 * Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George, 1954

References

* ''Sir Eric Alfred Berthoud (1900–1989), oil industrialist and diplomatist'' by Julian Bullard in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004)

External links

Sir Eric Alfred Berthoud at Oxford DNB online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berthoud, Eric Alfred Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford People educated at Gresham's School Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George People from Kensington Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Denmark 1900 births 1989 deaths Anglo-Persian Oil Company Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Poland