# Alfred Stirling > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alfred_Stirling > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alfred_Stirling.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Stirling > Source revision: 1346629924 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Australian diplomat (1902–1981)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2015}} {{Infobox person | name = Alfred Stirling {{post-nominals|country=AUS|CBE}} | image = File:Alfred Stirling 1953.jpg | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1902|09|08}} | birth_place = [Melbourne](/source/Melbourne), [Australia](/source/Australia) | death_date = {{Death date and age|1981|07|03|1902|09|08|df=y}} | resting_place = [Melbourne General Cemetery](/source/Melbourne_General_Cemetery) | death_place = Melbourne, Australia | occupation = Diplomat | alma_mater = [University of Melbourne](/source/University_of_Melbourne)
([BA](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts), [MA](/source/Master_of_Arts), [LLB](/source/Bachelor_of_Laws)) | years_active = | website = | parents = | spouse = Never married }} '''Alfred Thorp Stirling''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100%|CBE}} (8 September 1902 – 3 July 1981) was an Australian diplomat. Stirling was the eldest of three children of Australian surgeon Robert Andrew Stirling and his second wife Isabella Jessie Matilda Oades-Thorp, a nurse from England. He graduated from the [University of Melbourne](/source/University_of_Melbourne) (BA, 1922; MA, LL.B, 1924) where he excelled in French and won a W. T. Mollison scholarship for studying at [University College, Oxford](/source/University_College%2C_Oxford). He received his bachelor's degree there in 1927 and then worked as assistant to [Robert Menzies](/source/Robert_Menzies) in Melbourne. The two eventually became lifelong friends, and when Menzies became attorney-general he appointed Stirling as his secretary (1934–36). Stirling joined the [Department of External Affairs](/source/Department_of_External_Affairs_(1921%E2%80%9370)) in Canberra, where he headed the political section for a year. In 1937 he was sent to London as a [liaison officer](/source/liaison_officer) with the United Kingdom, and stayed there through World War II. In the meantime he was appointed an [Officer of the Order of the British Empire](/source/Officer_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) in 1941. After the war (1945–46) he became high commissioner in Ottawa, where he fully employed his knowledge of French. In 1947–1948, he was for fifteen months the minister in Washington, United States, and in 1948 appointed as high commissioner to South Africa. After becoming prime minister in 1949, Menzies sent Stirling to the Netherlands, where he served as Australian ambassador from 1950 to 1955. While staying there Stirling helped soften the Dutch position to the territorial claims of Indonesia, and was appointed [Commander of the Order of the British Empire](/source/Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) in 1953. After that he was ambassador to France (1955–59), Philippines (1959–62), Italy (1962–67) and Greece (1964–65). For his diplomatic services he received Knight Grand Cross of the [Order of St. Gregory the Great](/source/Order_of_St._Gregory_the_Great) (1963) and [Order of George I](/source/Order_of_George_I) of Greece (1964). He retired in 1967, declined a knighthood, and returned to Melbourne, where he wrote seven books in the 1970s. He died in 1981 in East Melbourne and was buried in the [Melbourne General Cemetery](/source/Melbourne_General_Cemetery). Stirling never married, and in his early diplomatic assignments was accompanied by his mother and sister Dorothy. ==Publications== *{{cite book|author1=Alfred Thorp Stirling|title=Joseph Bosisto|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q9EyAQAAIAAJ|year=1970|publisher=Hawthorn Press|isbn=9780725600143}} *{{cite book|author=Alfred Thorp Stirling|title=The Italian diplomat: and, Italy and Scotland|url=https://archive.org/details/italiandiplomata0000stir|url-access=registration|year=1971|publisher=Hawthorn Press}} *{{cite book|author=Alfred Thorp Stirling|title=Gang Forward: A Stirling Note-book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JExYAAAACAAJ|year=1972|publisher=Hawthorn Press|isbn=978-0-7256-0082-2}} *{{cite book|author=Alfred Thorp Stirling|title=On the fringe of diplomacy|url=https://archive.org/details/onfringeofdiplom0000stir|url-access=registration|year=1973|publisher=Hawthorn Press}} *{{cite book|author=Alfred Stirling|title=Lord Bruce|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eIArAAAAIAAJ|publisher=Hawthorn Press|isbn=978-0-7256-0125-6|year=1974}} *{{cite book|author=Alfred Thorp Stirling|title=A Distant View of the Vatican|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gnZpAQAACAAJ|year=1975|publisher=Hawthorn Press|isbn=978-0-7256-0159-1}} *{{cite book|author=Alfred Thorp Stirling|title=Old Richmond|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PUZEPQAACAAJ|year= 1979|publisher=Hawthorn Press|isbn=978-0-7256-0251-2}} ==References== {{Reflist|refs= {{cite book|author=Jeremy Hearder|chapter=Stirling, Alfred Thorp (1902–1981)|title= Australian Dictionary of Biography| volume =18|year=2012|publisher=Melbourne University Press}} }} {{s-start}} {{s-dip}} {{s-bef|before=[Thomas Glasgow](/source/Thomas_Glasgow)}} {{s-ttl|title=[Australian High Commissioners to Canada](/source/List_of_High_Commissioners_of_Australia_to_Canada)|years=1945–1946}} {{s-aft|after=[Frank Forde](/source/Frank_Forde)}} {{s-bef|before=[George Knowles](/source/George_Knowles)}} {{s-ttl|title=[Australian High Commissioner to South Africa](/source/List_of_Australian_High_Commissioners_to_South_Africa)|years=1948–1950}} {{s-aft|after=[John Quinn](/source/John_Quinn_(diplomat))|as=Acting High Commissioner}} {{s-bef|before=[Keith Officer](/source/Keith_Officer)|as=Minister to the Netherlands}} {{s-ttl|title=[Australian Ambassador to the Netherlands](/source/List_of_Australian_Ambassadors_to_the_Netherlands)|years=1950–1955}} {{s-aft|after=[Hugh McClure Smith](/source/Hugh_McClure_Smith)}} {{s-bef|before=[Keith Officer](/source/Keith_Officer)}} {{s-ttl|title=[Australian Ambassador to France](/source/List_of_Australian_Ambassadors_to_France)|years=1955–1959}} {{s-aft|after=[Edward Ronald Walker](/source/Edward_Ronald_Walker)}} {{s-bef|before=[Mick Shann](/source/Mick_Shann)}} {{s-ttl|title=[Australian Ambassador to the Philippines](/source/List_of_Australian_Ambassadors_to_the_Philippines)|years=1959–1962}} {{s-aft|after=[Bill Cutts](/source/Bill_Cutts)}} {{s-bef|before=[Hugh McClure Smith](/source/Hugh_McClure_Smith)}} {{s-ttl|title=[Australian Ambassador to Italy](/source/List_of_Australian_Ambassadors_to_Italy)|years=1962–1967}} {{s-aft|after=[Walter Crocker](/source/Walter_Crocker)}} {{s-new|reason=Australian embassy established in Athens}} {{s-ttl|title=[Australian Ambassador to Greece](/source/List_of_Australian_Ambassadors_to_Greece)|years=1964–1965}} {{s-aft|after=[Jo Gullett](/source/Jo_Gullett)}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Stirling, Alfred}} Category:1902 births Category:1981 deaths Category:Ambassadors of Australia to France Category:Ambassadors of Australia to Greece Category:Ambassadors of Australia to Italy Category:Ambassadors of Australia to the Netherlands Category:Ambassadors of Australia to the Philippines Category:Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:High commissioners of Australia to Canada Category:High commissioners of Australia to South Africa Category:University of Melbourne alumni Category:Burials at Melbourne General Cemetery Category:20th-century Australian diplomats --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alfred Stirling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Stirling) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Stirling?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.