Sir Ronald Charles Lindsay (3 May 1877 – 21 August 1945), PC, CVO, GCB, KCMG, was a British civil servant and diplomat.
He was born in 1877, the fifth son of James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford,[1] and educated at Winchester College.
From 1913 to 1919 he was Under-Secretary of Finance for Egypt,[1] then from 1919 to 1920 the Councillor of the Embassy in Washington D.C.,[2] before being posted as Minister Plenipotentiary to France. Following this, in 1921, he was appointed the Assistant Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign Office, a post he held until 1924. In 1925 he was appointed the Ambassador to Turkey, and in 1926 moved to become the Ambassador to Germany. He returned to London in 1928 to become the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the civil-service head of the Foreign Office.[1]
After two years as Permanent Secretary, he was named as the Ambassador to the United States in November 1929, and took up the position early the next year.[3] He remained in Washington for almost a decade, retiring in June to be replaced by Lord Lothian in June 1939.[2]
He married twice, both times to Americans; in 1909 to Martha Cameron, the daughter of J. Donald Cameron; after her death, he married Elizabeth Sherman Hoyt, daughter of Colgate Hoyt and grandniece of William Tecumseh Sherman, in 1924. There were no children from either marriage.[1][2]
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by ? |
British Ambassador to Turkey 1925-26 |
Succeeded by George Clerk |
| Preceded by Edgar Vincent |
British Ambassador to Germany 1926-28 |
Succeeded by Sir Horace Rumbold |
| Preceded by Esme Howard |
British Ambassador to the United States 1930-39 |
Succeeded by Lord Lothian |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by William Tyrrell |
Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs 1928-30 |
Succeeded by Robert Vansittart |