William Strang, 1st Baron Strang

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William Strang, 1st Baron Strang, GCMG, KBE, (2 January 1893-27 May 1978), was a British diplomat. He was a leading adviser to the British government from the 1930’s to the 1950’s and served as Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1949 to 1953.

Strang was the eldest son of James Strang, a farmer, and his wife Margaret Steven, daughter of James Steven. He was educated at Palmer's School, University College, London and at the Sorbonne. Strang served in the First World War and was awarded the MBE (military) in 1918. The following year he joined the Diplomatic Service, and served at the British embassy in Belgrade from 1919 to 1922, at the Foreign Office from 1922 to 1930 and at the embassy in Moscow from 1930 to 1933. During his time in Moscow he played an important role in the Metro-Vickers engineers trial, where six British engineers were accused of spying. He returned to the Foreign Office in 1933, and held office as head of the League of Nations section until 1937 and of the Central Department from 1937 to 1939 and as assistant under-secretary of state for Europe from 1939 to 1943. During the 1930’s he was an adviser to the government at the major international meetings, and met Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin. He was a tacit opponent of appeasement, but always stayed loyal to the government. He continued as an adviser during and after the Second World War, and was present at the major conferences between the Allied leaders. In 1943 Strang was appointed the British representative on the European Advisory Commission, with the rank of ambassador. The commission was set up by the Allies to study the possible post-war political problems in Europe and make recommendations. In this role Strang was considered a great success. The commission was dissolved at the Potsdam Conference in 1945 and the same year Strang was appointed political adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of Germany, Bernard Montgomery. He again returned to the Foreign Office in 1947, and served as Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the German section from 1947 to 1949 and as Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1949 to 1953. The six years Strang served as Permanent Under-Secretary of State saw the gradual recovery of Europe through the Marshall Plan, the establishment of the Western European Union and NATO and the breaking of the Berlin blockade. He retired from the Foreign Office in 1953.

Strang was made a CB in 1939, a KCB in 1953, a CMG in 1932, a KCMG in 1943 and a GCMG in 1950. In 1954 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Strang, of Stonesfield in the County of Oxford. He later served as a Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords and was also Chairman of the Royal Institute of International Affairs and of the college committee of University College, London. He published The Foreign Office (1955), Britain in World Affairs (1961) and the Diplomatic Career (1962) as well as his autobiography Home and Abroad (1956).

Lord Strang married Elsie Wynne Jones, daughter of Josias E. Jones, in 1920. They had one daughter and one son. Lord Strang died in May 1978, aged 85. He was succeeded in the barony by his only son Colin.

[edit] References

• Blake, Lord, Nicholls, C. S (editors). The Dictionary of National Biography, 1971-1980. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.
• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.

Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by New creation	Baron Strang 1954–1978	Succeeded by Colin Strang