Henry Chilton

Sir Henry Getty Chilton GCMG (15 October 1877 – 20 November 1954) was a British diplomat who was minister to the Vatican and ambassador to Chile, to Argentina, and to Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

Henry Getty Chilton was educated at Wellington College and joined the Diplomatic Service as an attaché in 1902. He served at Vienna, Copenhagen, The Hague, Brussels, Berlin and Washington, D.C., before being appointed Counseller of Embassy at Rio de Janeiro in 1920 and then at Washington in 1921. In 1924 he was promoted to be Minister to the United States under the Ambassador, Sir Esmé Howard. Still with the rank of Minister, he was the UK envoy to the Vatican 1928–30. He was then promoted to Ambassador and posted to Chile 1930–33, to Argentina 1933–35 and to Spain 1935–39.

Soon after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 several embassies in Madrid, including the British, evacuated to Hendaye, in France on the border with Spain. "Chilton was a blatant admirer of the nationalists and preferred to stay in Hendaye rather than return to Madrid" while it was still under Republican control. He left Hendaye on long leave prior to retirement in December 1937: The Times said "His has been an exacting, delicate and in many respects a thankless task, carried out with unfailing courtesy and devotion to duty."Geoffrey Thompson, secretary to the embassy, was chargé d'affaires until Owen O'Malley, who held Minister rank, took over the embassy at Hendaye. Chilton returned to Hendaye in May 1939 on his way to Madrid to collect his belongings. He was succeeded as Ambassador by Sir Maurice Peterson in the autumn of 1939.

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