Sir William Harpham

Sir William Harpham (3 December 1906 – 5 June 1999) was a British civil servant and diplomat who served as the Deputy Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the Organisation for European European Co-operation (OEEC) from 1953 to 1956 and ambassador to Bulgaria from 1964 to 1966.

Early life and education

Harpham was born in Grimsby on 3 December 1906, the son of W. Harpham, a police inspector and N. Harpham (née Stout). He was educated at Wintringham Secondary School, Grimsby, where he won a scholarship to Christ's College, Cambridge and gained a First in Spanish.

Career

Harpham joined the Department of Overseas Trade in 1929 as a cadet, and was appointed an intelligence officer. He was then posted to Brussels as commercial secretary, and then to Rome before he returned to the Department of Overseas Trade where, in 1936, he was appointed private secretary to the Parliamentary Secretary. In 1937 and 1939, he was seconded for service to the League of Nations in Geneva.

In 1940, and for most of the war, he was at Cairo as commercial secretary involved in aspects of economic warfare, and in 1944, at Beirut as first secretary, before he was posted to Berne in 1947 when he was promoted to counsellor. In 1950, he was transferred to the Foreign Office where he served as head of the General Department handling European post-war reconstruction matters. but as the Legation was immediately upgraded to an Embassy he became the UK's first ambassador to Bulgaria, a post he held until 1966. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1948 New Year Honours , and promoted to Knight Commander (KBE) in the 1966 New Year Honours. He was awarded the Order of Madara Horseman, Bulgaria, in 1969. He was awarded the Order of Stara Planina (First Class) in 1979.