British Diplomatic Oral History Programme

Richard Parsons was born on 14 March 1928, son of Dr R. A. Parsons. He was educated at Bembridge School before studying history at Brasenose College, University of Oxford and in 1960 married Jenifer Jane Mathews (she died in 1981); they had three sons.

After his National Service in the Army (1949-51), Parsons joined the Foreign (subsequently Diplomatic) Service in 1951. His diplomatic career included the following postings: Foreign Office, (1951-53); 3rd Secretary, Washington [United States], (1953-56); 2nd Secretary, Vientiane [Laos], (1956-58); FO, (1958-60); 1st Secretary, Buenos Aires [Argentina], (1960-63); FO, (1963-65); 1st Secretary, Ankara [Turkey], (1965-67); FO, (1967-69); Counsellor, Lagos [Nigeria], (1969-72); Head of Personnel Operations Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, (1972-76); Ambassador to Hungary, (1976-79); Ambassador to Spain, (1980-84); Ambassador to Sweden, (1984-87).

Online version available at http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/archives/collections/BDOHP/Parsons_Richard.pdf.