Stephen Tallents

Sir Stephen George Tallents KCMG CB CBE (20 October 1884- 11 September 1958) was a British civil servant and public relations expert.

Born in London, Tallents was educated at Harrow and Balliol. He began his career as a civil servant at the Board of Trade in 1909 before being transferred to assist William Beveridge and Hubert Llewellyn Smith in establishing labour exchanges. He was commissioned in August 1914 and served as an officer in the Irish Guards in World War I until severely wounded at Festubert. He then worked at the Ministry of Munitions, transferring in 1916 to the Ministry of Food. In 1918 he became chief delegate for the Supply of Relief to Poland. In February 1919 he was appointed British Commissioner for the Baltic Provinces during the British intervention in that region and helped draw up the treaty that established Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. He adjudicated on the line of the border between Estonia and Latvia, which included dividing Valga from Valka. He was secretary to the last Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord FitzAlan and was then Imperial Secretary for Northern Ireland, 1922 to 1926.