Ronald Ian Campbell

Ronald Ian Campbell (1890–1983) studied at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating in 1912. His diplomatic career included two Washington postings, separated by senior appointments in Europe. In March 1930, while serving as chargé d’affaires, he discussed British policy toward Shanghai with the State Department. He distinguished proposals to alter the administration of the international settlement from the separate question of foreign extraterritorial jurisdiction in China. ^{1, 2}

Campbell became minister at Paris in 1938 and at Belgrade in 1939. In July 1941 he was appointed minister at the British embassy in Washington, working under Ambassador Halifax. He remained in Washington until 1944 and subsequently served as an assistant under-secretary in the Foreign Office. ^{1, 3}

In August 1942 Campbell urged Sumner Welles to consider admitting thirty thousand Polish refugees to the United States. They were family members of Polish servicemen leaving the Soviet Union. Welles declined, citing the difficulty of shipping them across the world and the legislation that admission would require. He instead offered American assistance for temporary camps in Iran, including Red Cross supplies. ⁴

Appointed ambassador to Egypt in March 1946, Campbell dealt with negotiations over British evacuation and the future of Sudan. In January 1947 he put alternatives to Prime Minister Mahmud Fahmy al-Nuqrashi that preserved the Sudanese right to choose their future political status. Egypt insisted on the permanent unity of the Nile Valley and rejected both alternatives. Campbell continued the discussions, but a further British amendment later that month also failed to obtain Egyptian agreement. ^{5, 6}