Antony Head, 1st Viscount Head

Antony Henry Head, 1st Viscount Head, (19 December 1906 – 29 March 1983) was a British soldier, Conservative politician and diplomat.

Background and education Head was born in London on 19 December 1906, the son of Geoffrey Head and Ethel Daisy, daughter of Arthur Flower. He was educated at Ludgrove School, Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He later joined the Life Guards, serving through the Second World War and achieving the rank of brigadier. He was awarded the Military Cross (MC) on 20 December 1940. He was part of the British delegation to the Potsdam Conference. in the administrations of Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1951 and in 1960 he was raised to the peerage as Viscount Head, of Throope in the County of Wiltshire.

He was later High Commissioner to Nigeria from 1960 to 1963 and High Commissioner to Malaysia from 1963 to 1966, where he unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate Singapore's continued status as part of Malaysia. In line with British foreign policy, he advocated for a peaceful and constitutional solution to the tensions between Malaysia and Singapore according to Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew. He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 1961 New Year Honours and promoted to be Knight Grand Cross (GCMG) in 1963.

Family Head married Dorothea Louise (1907–1987), daughter of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury, on 23 July 1935.