Lees Mayall

Sir Alexander Lees Mayall (14 September 1915 – 27 December 1992) was a British diplomat who served as Vice-Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps.

Biography Mayall was born in Atcham, Shropshire, the son of Alexander Mayall, of Bealings End, Woodbridge, Suffolk, by his wife Isobel Margaret, daughter of Frederick James Roberts Hendy, Director of Education at Oxford University. The Mayall family were minor Lancashire gentry since the late eighteenth century.

After Eton and Trinity College, Oxford, Mayall joined the Foreign Office and was promoted to Third Secretary in 1940. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1964 while serving at the British embassy in Lisbon.

From 1940 to 1965, he was en poste in British Embassies in Switzerland, Egypt, France, Japan, Portugal and Ethiopia as well as serving stints in the UK. He served as Vice-Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps between 1965 and 1972, and was invested as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in recognition of his services. In 1973 he was appointed British Ambassador to Venezuela. After he retired to Wiltshire in 1975, he published his memoirs entitled Fireflies in Amber published by Michael Russell (Publishing) Ltd, The Chantry, Wilton, Salisbury.