Evelyn Shuckburgh

Sir Charles Arthur Evelyn Shuckburgh, GCMG, CB (26 May 1909 – 12 December 1994), better known as Sir Evelyn Shuckburgh, was a British diplomat. In the 1950s he was at the heart of affairs in London, as Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, and from 1954 to 1956 as Assistant Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office in charge of Middle East affairs.

Family and education He was the son of Sir John Evelyn Shuckburgh, an under-secretary at the Colonial Office, and was educated at Winchester and King's College, Cambridge.

Professional career Shuckburgh entered the Diplomatic Service in 1933, spending his early years in Egypt, Canada, Argentina and Czechoslovakia. In Egypt, during the years preceding the Second World War, he was for a time Private Secretary to Sir Miles Lampson, the British Ambassador to Egypt. He served as chargé d'affaires in Argentina in 1944.

Later life After retiring in 1969, Shuckburgh returned to Britain and lived in the Chilterns. During the 1970s he chaired his local committee for the National Trust.

In 1986 the diaries he wrote during the Suez Crisis were published, titled Descent to Suez: Diaries 1951-56 and selected by John Charmley.

Shuckburgh died on 12 December 1994 in Watlington, Oxfordshire.

Honours

Shuckburgh was appointed a Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (CMG) in the 1949 Birthday Honours, and a Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1954 New Year Honours. He was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 1959 New Year Honours, and then to Knight Grand Cross of that Order (GCMG) in the 1967 Birthday Honours.

Archives Shuckburgh's papers, including personal diaries and letters, are held at the Cadbury Research Library (University of Birmingham).