Obituary
of Sir Roderick Sarell; Diplomat who was accused of being Romania’s ‘Scarlet
Pimpernel’ and was Britain's last Ambassador to Libya before Gaddafi seized
power.
Daily Telegraph (London, England); 8/25/2001
SIR RODERICK SARELL, who has died aged 88, was Consul General in Algiers during the period of the Algerian War, served as the last Ambassador to Libya before the Gaddafi revolution and then as Ambassador to Turkey.
Sarell spent most of his diplomatic career in the Middle East and North Africa, living and working through some of the most difficult episodes of the region's post-war history. Although originally an entrant to the pre-war Consular service, Sarell was one of the very few who gained promotion from this Service to become an Ambassador in two posts.
Roderick Francis Gisbert Sarell was born on January 23 1913 at Dunkirk, France, where his father Philip was the British Consul. He, along with his mother, brother and sister, subsequently spent much of the First World War living within the war zone with his father. Although their home was on occasions bombed, the most serious threat to Sarell's life came when he contracted diphtheria: the prompt action of his mother, a former nurse at Bart's, ensured he survived. After the war, the family settled in Tunis, where Philip Sarell was then Consul General, and then in Barcelona, before his father retired to England.
Sarell was educated at Ashdown House School before going to Radley College and then to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he captained the Boat Club in 1932.
Sarell left Oxford with a degree in PPE and, after passing the Civil Service Entrance exam, joined the Consular Service in 1936. His first posting was to Shiraz, in what is now Iran, as probationer Vice Consul. The following year he was in Tehran, and then in 1938 became acting Consul in Shiraz, before taking up the post of Vice Consul at Khorramshahr.
In 1939 Sarell was posted to Ethiopia, which was under Italian rule. As war broke out with Nazi Germany, the sympathy of many of the Italian officers was with the British, their allies of the First World War, and in the Christmas and New Year celebrations, Sarell recalled them toasting the success of the British forces. Mussolini had different ideas, and when Italy joined the war alongside Germany in 1940, Sarell had to leave and went to Basra, in what is now Iraq.
By 1942 the Italians had been defeated in Ethiopia, and Sarell returned to Addis Ababa as Second Secretary, where he remained for the rest of the war. In 1946 Sarell was recalled from his post and headed to Rome, on route to his next posting. However, post-war politics and the “Corfu Straits incident” in November of that year - when Albania complained to the United Nations about British mine-sweeping in the area - meant that the plans for him to go to Albania fell through, as diplomatic relations with Britain were broken off. Sarell remained in Rome during the summer of 1946, staying with Brigadier Maurice Lush and his family at their villa. It was here that he met his wife Pamela Crowther-Smith, who was Brigadier Lush’s PA.
Shortly after marrying, Sarell was posted to Romania as First Secretary. He drove through the Soviet sector of Austria and across the plains of Transylvania, which was still suffering from the effects of war. By the summer of 1949 Sarell was Charge d’Affaires and was accused in the Romanian press of being "the Scarlet Pimpernel" and of assisting Romanians to leave the country. He was picked up by the secret police, interrogated for 24 hours, and expelled from the country.
For the next three years, Sarell was based in London, working at the Foreign Office. In 1953, Sarell was promoted to Counsellor and Consul General and posted to Burma. Here he served as second in command to Paul Gore-Booth during the period when Burma, having decided not to join the Commonwealth, was flirting with both eastern and western powers. One of the memorable episodes of this posting was the joint visit of Kruschev and Bulganin to Rangoon. Sarell, his wife and two young children stayed in Rangoon for the next three years.
In 1956 Sarell was posted as Consul General to Algiers, then in the middle of its independence struggle with France. Shortly after his arrival the "siege of Algiers", with daily bombings of the European areas of the town, began. This was followed by the French generals' attempted insurrection of 1958 and the increasing activity of the OAS, the terrorist group which opposed de Gaulle's policy on Algeria.
Sarell's mission was not immune from this violence. After a vice consul was gunned down in the Consulate car park, many of the staff carried personal guns for their own protection. Throughout these years, Sarell provided important information of the events, both to the British Ambassador in Paris and to the Foreign Office in London. In recognition of his service in Algiers Sarell was awarded the CMG in 1958.
The next year Sarell returned to London to the post of Head of Southern Department at the Foreign Office, where one of his major responsibilities was the deteriorating situation in Cyprus. He then moved to become Head of the General Department in 1961, where, among other tasks, he was a member of the original Anglo-French Working Party on the proposals for a fixed Channel link. This working party reported in 1963 and, while recognising the financial costs of building a rail tunnel, supported the link in principle.
In 1964 Sarell was appointed Ambassador to the Kingdom of Libya, taking up residence in Tripoli. Over the next five years he was to build a close relationship with King Idris and do much to strengthen ties between Britain and Libya, even during the strained times of the 1967 Six Day War, when the embassy was besieged by the local population. In recognition of his services there he was knighted in 1968.
In this post, Sarell was responsible for facilitating the negotiation of Britain's largest-ever arms deal, for the sale of the Bloodhound air defence missile system to Libya. But the deal was torn up by Colonel Gaddafi after he seized power in 1969.
Later that year, Sarell was appointed Ambassador to Turkey, returning to the country where his father and grandfather had been born. In the early 1970s Turkey faced considerable political unrest and one of the most difficult episodes of this post was when four British radar technicians were killed while being held hostage by Marxist guerrillas. Their wives were in the embassy residence when news arrived of the failure of the attempted rescue by the Turkish forces.
In October 1971 the Queen, Prince Philip, and Princess Anne made their state visit to Turkey, during which Sarell travelled from Izmir to Istanbul on Britannia. Shortly afterwards, Sarell was appointed KCVO.
Sarell was able to spend some of his spare time on his interests in investigating the family’s history in Turkey and on archaeology.
In 1973 Sarell retired, travelling slowly back to Britain through the countries of the Mediterranean. After his wife's death, Sarell continued his passion for travel by touring with his sister Angela.
Sarell was president of the Society for Libyan Studies and contributed to radio programmes and various journals on Algeria and Turkey.
Sarell was fond of building - renovating his house himself - and of swimming and walking. In his eighties, he mastered the computer.
He married, in 1946, Pamela Crowther-Smith; she died in 1994, and he is survived by their three sons.
2001 Daily Telegraph
Daily Telegraph (London, England); 8/25/2001
SIR RODERICK SARELL, who has died aged 88, was Consul General in Algiers during the period of the Algerian War, served as the last Ambassador to Libya before the Gaddafi revolution and then as Ambassador to Turkey.
Sarell spent most of his diplomatic career in the Middle East and North Africa, living and working through some of the most difficult episodes of the region's post-war history. Although originally an entrant to the pre-war Consular service, Sarell was one of the very few who gained promotion from this Service to become an Ambassador in two posts.
Roderick Francis Gisbert Sarell was born on January 23 1913 at Dunkirk, France, where his father Philip was the British Consul. He, along with his mother, brother and sister, subsequently spent much of the First World War living within the war zone with his father. Although their home was on occasions bombed, the most serious threat to Sarell's life came when he contracted diphtheria: the prompt action of his mother, a former nurse at Bart's, ensured he survived. After the war, the family settled in Tunis, where Philip Sarell was then Consul General, and then in Barcelona, before his father retired to England.
Sarell was educated at Ashdown House School before going to Radley College and then to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he captained the Boat Club in 1932.
Sarell left Oxford with a degree in PPE and, after passing the Civil Service Entrance exam, joined the Consular Service in 1936. His first posting was to Shiraz, in what is now Iran, as probationer Vice Consul. The following year he was in Tehran, and then in 1938 became acting Consul in Shiraz, before taking up the post of Vice Consul at Khorramshahr.
In 1939 Sarell was posted to Ethiopia, which was under Italian rule. As war broke out with Nazi Germany, the sympathy of many of the Italian officers was with the British, their allies of the First World War, and in the Christmas and New Year celebrations, Sarell recalled them toasting the success of the British forces. Mussolini had different ideas, and when Italy joined the war alongside Germany in 1940, Sarell had to leave and went to Basra, in what is now Iraq.
By 1942 the Italians had been defeated in Ethiopia, and Sarell returned to Addis Ababa as Second Secretary, where he remained for the rest of the war. In 1946 Sarell was recalled from his post and headed to Rome, on route to his next posting. However, post-war politics and the “Corfu Straits incident” in November of that year - when Albania complained to the United Nations about British mine-sweeping in the area - meant that the plans for him to go to Albania fell through, as diplomatic relations with Britain were broken off. Sarell remained in Rome during the summer of 1946, staying with Brigadier Maurice Lush and his family at their villa. It was here that he met his wife Pamela Crowther-Smith, who was Brigadier Lush’s PA.
Shortly after marrying, Sarell was posted to Romania as First Secretary. He drove through the Soviet sector of Austria and across the plains of Transylvania, which was still suffering from the effects of war. By the summer of 1949 Sarell was Charge d’Affaires and was accused in the Romanian press of being "the Scarlet Pimpernel" and of assisting Romanians to leave the country. He was picked up by the secret police, interrogated for 24 hours, and expelled from the country.
For the next three years, Sarell was based in London, working at the Foreign Office. In 1953, Sarell was promoted to Counsellor and Consul General and posted to Burma. Here he served as second in command to Paul Gore-Booth during the period when Burma, having decided not to join the Commonwealth, was flirting with both eastern and western powers. One of the memorable episodes of this posting was the joint visit of Kruschev and Bulganin to Rangoon. Sarell, his wife and two young children stayed in Rangoon for the next three years.
In 1956 Sarell was posted as Consul General to Algiers, then in the middle of its independence struggle with France. Shortly after his arrival the "siege of Algiers", with daily bombings of the European areas of the town, began. This was followed by the French generals' attempted insurrection of 1958 and the increasing activity of the OAS, the terrorist group which opposed de Gaulle's policy on Algeria.
Sarell's mission was not immune from this violence. After a vice consul was gunned down in the Consulate car park, many of the staff carried personal guns for their own protection. Throughout these years, Sarell provided important information of the events, both to the British Ambassador in Paris and to the Foreign Office in London. In recognition of his service in Algiers Sarell was awarded the CMG in 1958.
The next year Sarell returned to London to the post of Head of Southern Department at the Foreign Office, where one of his major responsibilities was the deteriorating situation in Cyprus. He then moved to become Head of the General Department in 1961, where, among other tasks, he was a member of the original Anglo-French Working Party on the proposals for a fixed Channel link. This working party reported in 1963 and, while recognising the financial costs of building a rail tunnel, supported the link in principle.
In 1964 Sarell was appointed Ambassador to the Kingdom of Libya, taking up residence in Tripoli. Over the next five years he was to build a close relationship with King Idris and do much to strengthen ties between Britain and Libya, even during the strained times of the 1967 Six Day War, when the embassy was besieged by the local population. In recognition of his services there he was knighted in 1968.
In this post, Sarell was responsible for facilitating the negotiation of Britain's largest-ever arms deal, for the sale of the Bloodhound air defence missile system to Libya. But the deal was torn up by Colonel Gaddafi after he seized power in 1969.
Later that year, Sarell was appointed Ambassador to Turkey, returning to the country where his father and grandfather had been born. In the early 1970s Turkey faced considerable political unrest and one of the most difficult episodes of this post was when four British radar technicians were killed while being held hostage by Marxist guerrillas. Their wives were in the embassy residence when news arrived of the failure of the attempted rescue by the Turkish forces.
In October 1971 the Queen, Prince Philip, and Princess Anne made their state visit to Turkey, during which Sarell travelled from Izmir to Istanbul on Britannia. Shortly afterwards, Sarell was appointed KCVO.
Sarell was able to spend some of his spare time on his interests in investigating the family’s history in Turkey and on archaeology.
In 1973 Sarell retired, travelling slowly back to Britain through the countries of the Mediterranean. After his wife's death, Sarell continued his passion for travel by touring with his sister Angela.
Sarell was president of the Society for Libyan Studies and contributed to radio programmes and various journals on Algeria and Turkey.
Sarell was fond of building - renovating his house himself - and of swimming and walking. In his eighties, he mastered the computer.
He married, in 1946, Pamela Crowther-Smith; she died in 1994, and he is survived by their three sons.
2001 Daily Telegraph