Ralph Selby

Ralph Walford Selby (20 March 1915 – 21 February 1997) was a British diplomat who served as consul-general in Boston from 1966 to 1969 and ambassador to Norway from 1972 to 1975.

Early life and education

Selby was born on 20 March 1915, the eldest son of Sir Walford Selby, diplomat, and Dorothy née Orme Carter. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford.

Career

Selby joined the Diplomatic Service in 1938, and served as third secretary in the Foreign Office until 1939. In November 1939, he enlisted with the Army and served with the Grenadier Guards from 1940 to 1945. He then resumed duty in the Foreign Office. In 1947, he was promoted to first secretary and sent to the newly opened High Commission in New Delhi.

Selby was transferred to The Hague in 1950, and acted as chargé d’affaires there in 1952 before he returned to the Foreign Office for three years serving as deputy head of the Southern Department dealing with Greece and Turkey. In 1956, he was posted to Tokyo as head of Chancery having been promoted to counsellor. He was then transferred to Copenhagen as counsellor in 1958, and on occasion acted as chargé d'affaires. In 1961, he was sent to Jakarta. Described as "perhaps his most successful posting", according to the Times, "His dispatches to London from Jakarta succeeded in guiding the British Government away from its policy of funding aid to Indonesia at the worst time of the regime of the dictatorial President Sukarno." After serving as minister at Rome from 1969 to 1972 he was appointed ambassador to Norway, a post he held until his retirement in 1975.

Personal life and death

Selby married Julianna Mary Iva Snell in 1945 and had three daughters.