Brian Stewart (diplomat)
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Brian Stewart CMG |
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|---|---|
 |
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| Director Support Services, Assistant Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service | |
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In office 1974–1979 |
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| Prime Minister | Jim Callaghan |
| Head of Hong Kong Station | |
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In office 1972–1974 |
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| Prime Minister | Ted Heath |
| Secretary to the Joint Intelligence Committee | |
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In office 1969–1972 |
|
| Prime Minister | Ted Heath |
| Preceded by | Brooks Richards |
| Succeeded by | Michael Herman |
| Consul-General and British Representative to North Vietnam | |
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In office 1967–1969 |
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| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | John Colvin |
| Succeeded by | Daphne Park |
| First Secretary [Manila] | |
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In office 1967–1967 |
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| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| First Secretary [Kuala Lumpur] | |
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In office 1964–1967 |
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| Prime Minister | Alec Douglas-Home |
| Consul-General Shanghai | |
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In office 1962–1964 |
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| Prime Minister | Alec Douglas-Home |
| 2nd Secretary Rangoon | |
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In office 1957–1960 |
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| Prime Minister | Harold Macmillan |
| Secretary for Chinese Affairs Malacca | |
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In office 1955–1957 |
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| Prime Minister | Harold Macmillan |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Brian Thomas Webster Stewart 27 April 1922 Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Died | 16 August 2015 (aged 93) Broich, Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Spouse(s) | Peggy Pollock Sally Acland Rose Nugent |
| Children | Heather Stewart Anne Stewart Rory Stewart OBE MP Fiona Stewart |
| Residence | Broich, Crieff, Perthshire |
| Alma mater |
Glenalmond College Worcester College, Oxford |
Brian Thomas Webster Stewart CMG MCS (27 April 1922 – 16 August 2015) was a Scottish soldier, colonial official, diplomat and the second-most senior officer in the British Secret Intelligence Service. He fought in the Second World War, played an influential role in the Malayan Emergency, then served as British Consul-General in Shanghai on the eve of the cultural revolution, as British Representative to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and as the Director of Technical Services and Assistant Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1974 to 1979.
He is credited with being one of the first China specialists in the Secret Intelligence Service, and the first Director of Support Services. Sir Colin McColl, Chief of SIS from 1989 to 1994 said of Stewart: "Everything he did, he did very well. He was one of the most remarkable persons in the service."
Stewart was born on 27 April 1922 in Edinburgh, the second of two children of Redvers Buller Stewart, a Calcutta Jute Merchant, and his wife Mabel Banks Sparks. His parents returned to India, shortly after he was born, leaving him and his brother in the care of his aunts in Kirriemuir in Scotland. He and his brother George Redvers Hudson Banks Stewart were educated at prep school in Dalhousie Castle, and then at Glenalmond College in Perthshire, before both boys won open exhibitions to Worcester College, Oxford University.
During World War II, Stewart and his brother joined the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment), in which their grandfather had also served George (Stewart's older brother) was posted to the 5th (Angus) battalion, was wounded at El Alamein and killed in Sicily. Stewart went to OCTU at Eaton Hall, and was assigned to the Tyneside Scottish (Black Watch).
He landed on the Normandy beaches, and later remarked of the German army, “They had a bad habit of sticking snipers up trees. But I had a bad habit of shooting at snipers up trees”. He fought at the Battle of Rauray, as part of Operation Epsom, in which the unit he commanded claimed the destruction of 12 Panzer tanks, and where he was wounded The Regiment was awarded a battle honour for its role in the Defence of Rauray: the battle, and Brian Stewart's role in it, is described in detail in the regimental history.
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