Lord Inverchapel

Archibald John Kerr Clark Kerr, later Lord Inverchapel, entered the diplomatic service in 1906. Before becoming ambassador he served in Berlin, Buenos Aires, Washington, Rome, Tehran, Tangier, and Cairo, and enlisted in the Scots Guards in 1918. He subsequently headed missions in Central America, Chile, and Sweden. His appointments to Iraq in 1935, China in 1938, and the Soviet Union in 1942 placed him in successive centers of international conflict. ¹

In Moscow he took part in Churchill’s August 1942 discussions with Stalin, alongside Alexander Cadogan, British military leaders, and the American representative Averell Harriman. After the war, Britain sent him to Java as a special envoy. In February 1946 he brought the Dutch representative Hubertus van Mook and Indonesian prime minister Sutan Sjahrir together to agree arrangements for negotiations and their public presentation. He also told the American consul general that he intended to add a political amnesty provision to the proposals under discussion. ^{2, 3}

Inverchapel became ambassador in Washington in 1946. On 24 February 1947 he delivered to Secretary of State George Marshall Britain’s formal notices that it could no longer provide financial assistance to Greece and Turkey. He stressed Greece’s immediate urgency and warned against informing either government before the United States could offer definite help. Marshall undertook to consult President Truman and the chiefs of staff promptly. ⁴

He also tried to answer American criticism of British colonial policy. Addressing the Pilgrims Society in November 1946 after Henry Wallace’s attack on British imperialism, he portrayed the Commonwealth as a voluntary association and described a future in which colonies would become equal partners. Colonial rule and disagreements over Palestine remained serious sources of friction. His Washington appointment ended in 1948; he died on 5 July 1951. ^{5, 1}