Sir Nigel Hugh Robert Allen Broomfield (19 March 1937 – 29 October 2018) was a British diplomat.

Career

Broomfield was born in Nowshera, North West Frontier Province and educated at

Haileybury College Haileybury is a co-educational public school (fee-charging boarding and day school for 11- to 18-year-olds) located in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. It is a member of the Rugby Group and enrols pupils at the 11+, 13+ and 16+ stages of edu ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. He joined 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 ...

and was commissioned in the 17th/21st Lancers in 1959, retiring with the rank of

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in 1968. He joined the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...

(FCO) in 1969 and served in the British embassies in

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 ...

and

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, and with the British Military Government 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 ...

, as well as senior posts at the FCO. He was Deputy High Commissioner,

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, 1985–88; Ambassador to the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

1988–90; Deputy

Under Secretary of State Under Secretary of State (U/S) is a title used by senior officials of the United States Department of State who rank above the Assistant Secretaries and below the Deputy Secretary. From 1919 to 1972, the Under Secretary was the second-ranking of ...

(Defence) at the FCO 1990–92; and Ambassador to Germany 1993–97. Broomfield was appointed CMG in 1986, and knighted as KCMG in 1993. After retiring from the Diplomatic Service, Sir Nigel was director of the

Ditchley Foundation The Ditchley Foundation is a foundation that holds conferences, with a primary focus on British-American relations. Based at Ditchley Park near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, it was established as a privately funded charity in 1958 by philanthr ...

1999–2004. He took part in the Atlantic Storm exercise in 2005. He was a non-executive director of

TI Group TI Group plc (formerly "Tube Investments") was a holding company for specialised engineering companies. It was based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire and was listed on the London Stock Exchange, at one point being a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. ...

1998–2000 and of

Smiths Group Smiths Group plc is a British, Multinational corporation, multinational, diversified engineering business headquartered in London, England. It operates in over 50 countries and employs 15,000 staff. Smiths Group is listed on the London Stock Ex ...

2000–2007. He was also chairman of

Leonard Cheshire Disability Leonard Cheshire is a major health and welfare charity working in the United Kingdom and running development projects around the world. It was founded in 1948 by Royal Air Force officer Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC. Leonard Cheshire's a ...

2004-2009. He was honorary President of the German-British Chamber of Commerce. He was the founding non-executive chairman of Cambridge Quantum Computing. He died of cancer on 29 October 2018 at the age of 81.Broomfield
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References

External links

BROOMFIELD, Sir Nigel (Hugh Robert Allen)
Who's Who 2012, A & C Black, 2012; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2011, accessed 9 April 2012
Sir Nigel Broomfield, KCMG
on Debrett's People of Today {{DEFAULTSORT:Broomfield, Nigel 1937 births 2018 deaths Military personnel of British India 20th-century British Army personnel People from Nowshera District People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge 17th/21st Lancers officers Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to East Germany Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Germany Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George