David Kelly

Sir David Victor Kelly (14 September 1891 – 27 March 1959) was a British diplomat who was Minister to Switzerland and Ambassador to Argentina, Turkey, and the Soviet Union. Education Kelly was educated at St Paul's School, London, and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was a demy (scholar) and gained a first class degree in modern history in 1913. Career Kelly passed the entrance examination for the Foreign Office in 1914 but on the outbreak of the First World War he volunteered for the army and was commissioned in the Leicestershire Regiment. He was brigade intelligence officer for the 110th Infantry Brigade (formed from Leicestershire Regiment battalions and known as the Leicester Tigers) from 1915. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1917. After the war Kelly joined the Diplomatic Service and served in Buenos Aires, Lisbon, Mexico, Brussels, Stockholm and Cairo. He was Minister to Switzerland 1940–42 followed by appointments as Ambassador to Argentina 1942–46, to Turkey 1946–49 and to the Soviet Union 1949–51. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the King's Birthday Honours of 1935, promoted to Knight Commander (KCMG) in the Birthday Honours of 1942 on his appointment to Argentina, and to Knight Grand Cross (GCMG) in the New Year Honours of 1950. He was also made a Knight of Malta in 1954.