Sidney J. A. Churchill

Sidney John Alexander Churchill MVO (1 March 1862 – 11 January 1921), often referred to as Sidney J. A. Churchill, was a British diplomat, art connoisseur and author.

He was born in Iași, Moldavia on 1 March 1862 the son of Henry Adrian Churchill (1828–86), who was an archaeologist and British diplomat, and Marie Braniefska (?1839-1905). Three of his four brothers Harry Lionel (1860–1924), William Algernon (1865–1947), and George Percy (1876–?) were also diplomats.

He married Stella Myers, who qualified as a doctor at Girton College, Cambridge, and went on to become a writer and lecturer on health questions, a strong supporter of the Save the Children Fund. She was also a local councillor who represented South East Southwark on the London County Council.

They had a son, George (born 1910), and a daughter, Ruth (1912–88). She was an architect who studied church architecture in pre-war Romania and then travelled extensively in Ethiopia. She documented her 20-year research in the local churches in Architecture of the Tigre, Ethiopia.

In 1880, at the age of 18, he joined the Persian Telegraph Department of the Indian Civil Service, where he gained an extensive knowledge of the Persian language and of Persia (modern-day Iran). He then served as British Consul in Persia (1886–94), and was in attendance on the Shah of Persia Naser ed-Din Shah during his visit to England in 1889, then Consul in Surinam and French Guiana (1894),Palermo (1898–1909), and Naples (1909–12), then Consul-General in Naples (1912–18), and Lisbon (1918–21). In 1901, he was entrusted with the last message from Queen Victoria to Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans. He died aged 59 on 11 January 1921, in Levallois-Perret on his way to England.

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