Ivor Pink

{{Short description|British diplomat (1910–1966)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Sir Ivor Pink | office1 = British Ambassador to Hungary | predecessor1 = Sir Nicholas Cheetham | successor1 = Sir Alexander Morley | term_start1 = 1961 | term_end1 = 1965 | office2 = British Ambassador to Chile | term_start2 = 1958 | term_end2 = 1961 | predecessor2 = Sir Charles Empson | successor2 = Sir David Scott Fox | birth_date = 9 September 1910 | death_date = 28 January 1966 (aged 55) | children = 1 | alma_mater = New College, Oxford | occupation = Diplomat | honorific_suffix = KCMG }}

'''Sir Ivor Thomas Montague Pink''' (9 September 1910 – 28 January 1966) was a British diplomat who served as ambassador to Chile from 1958 to 1961 and ambassador to Hungary from 1961 to 1965.

== Early life and education ==

Pink was born on 9 September 1910, the son of Leonard and Ethel Pink. He was educated at Uppingham School and New College, Oxford.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=29 January 1966 |title=Sir Ivor Pink |work=The Times |pages=10}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Citation |title=Pink, Sir Ivor (Thomas Montague), (9 Sept. 1910–28 Jan. 1966), HM Diplomatic Service |date=2007-12-01 |work=Who Was Who |url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-50138 |access-date=2025-12-17 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u50138|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=[Great Britain] Foreign Office |url=http://archive.org/details/foreign-office-list-1963 |title=The Foreign Office List and Diplomatic and Consular Year Book 1963. 135th Publication [Great Britain] |date=1963 |pages=347}}</ref>

== Career ==

Pink entered the Foreign Office in 1934 as third secretary and his first posting was to Tehran in 1938 where he learnt Persian.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34132 |date=12 February 1935 |page=1015 }}</ref> The following year, he was promoted to second secretary and returned to London in 1940.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34773 |date=16 January 1940 |page=299 }}</ref> He served on the secretariat of the European Advisory Commission for six months, and was promoted to first secretary in 1944. In 1945, he was transferred to the Allied Control Commission for Germany at Berlin as deputy chief of the political division with rank of counsellor.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

Pink was posted to Tokyo in 1948 as counsellor, and acted as chargé d’affaires in 1948 and 1949. After a year spent at the Canadian National Defence College at Kingston, Ontario, he was appointed deputy to the permanent United Kingdom representative on the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) in Paris with the rank of minister in 1950, and led the delegation in succeeding years. In 1953, he was seconded to the Ministry of Defence as a senior civilian instructor at the Imperial Defence College.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

After serving as assistant under-secretary of state from 1954, Pink was appointed ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Chile and remained in the post from 1958 to 1961 while also serving as consul-general there from 1959.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=41440 |date=8 July 1958 |page=4299}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=41748 |date=23 June 1959 |page=4098}}</ref> From 1961 to 1963, he was envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary at the legation in Budapest and then,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=42519 |date=21 November 1961 |page=8445 }}</ref> when it was upgraded to an Embassy, ambassador to Hungary from 1963 to 1965.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=43234 |date=31 January 1964 |page=940 }}</ref> During his tenure, relations between the UK and Hungary improved significantly.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

In 1965, he returned to London and while awaiting his next posting his health declined and he died the following year.<ref name=":0" />

== Personal life and death ==

Pink married Dora Elizabeth Hall (née Tottenham) in 1950 whom he met during his posting in Ontario, widow of Lieutenant B. E. Hall, and they had a daughter.<ref name=":0" />

Pink died on 28 January 1966, aged 55.<ref name=":0" />

== Honours ==

Pink was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1953 Coronation Honours,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=39863 |date= 1 June 1953 |page=2946 |supp=y }}</ref> and promoted to Knight Commander (KCMG) in the 1963 Birthday Honours.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=43010 |date=8 June 1963 |page=4797 |supp=y }}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == * {{NPG name|80097|Sir Ivor Thomas Montague Pink}}

{{s-start}} {{s-dip}} {{s-bef |before= Sir Charles Empson}} {{s-ttl |title =British Ambassador to Chile |years=1958–1961}} {{s-aft |after =Sir David Scott Fox}}

{{s-bef |before=Sir Nicholas Cheetham}} {{s-ttl |title =British Ambassador to Hungary|years=1961–1965}} {{s-aft |after =Sir Alexander Morley}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pink, Ivor Thomas Montague}} Category:1910 births Category:1966 deaths Category:People educated at Uppingham School Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford Category:20th-century British diplomats Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Chile Category:Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Hungary