Sir Harold Caccia

Harold Caccia was born in India in 1905 and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford. He entered the Foreign Office in 1929, served in Beijing, and worked in Anthony Eden’s private office before posting to Athens. During the war he worked with Harold Macmillan in North Africa, the Allied Control Commission in Italy, and British forces in Greece. Afterward he helped implement administrative reforms in the Foreign Office and represented Britain in occupied Austria. ¹

As ambassador in Washington from 1956 to 1961, Caccia took part in the renewed Anglo-American nuclear relationship. He joined the British delegation at Macmillan’s June 1958 talks on amendments to the American Atomic Energy Act and advance consultations between experts. ²

Caccia also worked with David Ormsby-Gore on nuclear test negotiations. In an October 1959 meeting, American officials questioned whether a voluntary halt to underground tests would concede too much without adequate verification. Caccia suggested that the United States could refrain from testing in practice without making a formal declaration. ³

Returning to London, Caccia became permanent under-secretary in 1962 and head of the Diplomatic Service in 1964. He retired in 1965 and served as provost of Eton until 1977. His later activities included business directorships, public records work, the Order of St John, and crossbench participation in the House of Lords. ¹