# John Killick

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For the Australian criminal, see [John Killick (Australian criminal)](/source/John_Killick_(Australian_criminal)).

**Sir John Edward Killick** [GCMG](/source/GCMG) (18 November 1919 – 12 February 2004) was a British diplomat who was ambassador to the Soviet Union, and later ambassador to NATO.

## Background

John Edward Killick was born at [Isleworth](/source/Isleworth) in 1919.[1] He was educated at [Latymer Upper School](/source/Latymer_Upper_School),[2] [University College](/source/University_College,_London), London, and [Bonn University](/source/Bonn_University).[1] He served in the [British Army](/source/British_Army) during [World War II](/source/World_War_II), first in the [Suffolk Regiment](/source/Suffolk_Regiment), and later in the [1st Airborne Division](/source/1st_Airborne_Division_(United_Kingdom)) in which he commanded the 89th Field Security Section (Intelligence Corps) at [Arnhem](/source/Battle_of_Arnhem).[1] He was captured by the Germans, and after release in 1945 he commanded the intelligence corps unit at [Siegen](/source/Siegen).[1]

## Career

Kilick joined the [Foreign Office](/source/Foreign_Office) in 1946 and served with the [Allied High Commission](/source/Allied_High_Commission) in Germany 1948–51, at [Berlin](/source/Berlin), Frankfurt and [Bonn](/source/Bonn).[1] He was [private secretary](/source/Private_secretary) to the [Parliamentary Under-Secretary](/source/Parliamentary_Under-Secretary) at the Foreign Office 1951–54, served at the embassy in [Addis Ababa](/source/Addis_Ababa) 1954–57, then attended the Canadian National Defence College (then located with the [Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College](/source/Canadian_Land_Forces_Command_and_Staff_College)) 1957–58.[1] He served in the Western European department at the Foreign Office 1958–62, attended the [Imperial Defence College](/source/Imperial_Defence_College) 1962–63, then was [Head of Chancery](/source/Head_of_Chancery) at the embassy in Washington, D.C., 1963–68, and Assistant [Under-Secretary](/source/Permanent_Under-Secretary) at the [Foreign and Commonwealth Office](/source/Foreign_and_Commonwealth_Office) (FCO) 1968–71.[1]

Killick was appointed Ambassador at Moscow in September 1971.[3] Shortly after he arrived, the British government expelled 90 Russian intelligence officers,[4] and Killick had to deal with the difficult Anglo-Soviet relations that followed. He returned to London 1973–75 as deputy to the [Permanent Under-Secretary at the FCO](/source/Permanent_Under-Secretary_of_State_for_Foreign_Affairs), [Sir Thomas Brimelow](/source/Sir_Thomas_Brimelow), and also Britain's [Permanent Representative](/source/Permanent_Representative) on the Council of the [Western European Union](/source/Western_European_Union). He was Permanent Representative to the [North Atlantic Council](/source/North_Atlantic_Council) (the governing body of [NATO](/source/NATO)) 1975–79.[1] In March 1979, after the murder of a bank employee near Killick's home in a [Brussels](/source/Brussels) suburb, it was reported that Killick had been the intended target of the [Irish Republican Army](/source/Irish_Republican_Army).[5]

After retiring in 1980, Killick and his wife, Lynette, moved to her home country of South Africa, where he was a director at Dunlop from 1980 to 1985.[1] He returned to England after her death in 1984, and served as president of the [Great Britain Atlantic Committee](/source/Great_Britain_Atlantic_Committee) and the [Atlantic Treaty Association](/source/Atlantic_Treaty_Association).[1]

## Personal life and death

Killick was married to Lynette du Preez from 1948 until her death in 1984.[1] The following year, he married Monica Harries Easton, a fellow retired diplomat; they lived in [Southborough, Kent](/source/Southborough,_Kent), until her death in 1995.[1]

In 1998, Killick suffered a stroke.[1] He died from pneumonia at [Kent and Sussex Hospital](/source/Kent_and_Sussex_Hospital) in [Royal Tunbridge Wells](/source/Royal_Tunbridge_Wells) on 12 February 2004, aged 84.[1]

## Honours

Killick was appointed [CMG](/source/Companion_of_the_Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George) in the [New Year Honours](/source/New_Year_Honours) of 1966,[6] knighted [KCMG](/source/Knight_Commander_of_the_Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George) in the [Queen's Birthday Honours](/source/Queen's_Birthday_Honours) of 1971[7] and raised to GCMG in the Birthday Honours of 1979.[8]

Sir John Killick Road, built on the former [School of Service Intelligence](/source/School_of_Service_Intelligence) site in [Ashford, Kent](/source/Ashford,_Kent), is named after him.

## References

1. Noble, Alastair J. (2008). "Killick, Sir John Edward (1919–2004), diplomatist". [doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/93465](https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/93465)

1. Campbell, Alan (16 February 2004). ["Sir John Killick"](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/feb/16/guardianobituaries.obituaries). *[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)*

1. No. 45588. 1 February 1972. p. 1282.

1. [Britain expels 90 Russian diplomat spies](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/27/britain-expels-90-soviet-spies), *The Guardian*, London, 25 September 1971

1. ["I.R.A. SETS OFF BOMB AT BELGIAN CONCERT"](https://www.nytimes.com/1979/08/29/archives/ira-sets-off-bomb-at-belgian-concert-15-persons-are-hurt-in.html). *The New York Times*. 1979-08-29. [ISSN 0362-4331](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved 2022-08-18.

1. No. 43854. 1 January 1966. p. 4.

1. No. 45384. 12 June 1971. p. 5959.

1. No. 47869. 16 June 1979. p. 2.

- [KILLICK, Sir John (Edward)](http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U23053), *Who Was Who*, A & C Black, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012
- [Obituary: Sir John Killick: High-flying envoy at the heart of Britain's cold-war diplomacy](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/feb/16/guardianobituaries.obituaries), *The Guardian*, 16 February 2004
- [Sir John Killick](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1454263/Sir-John-Killick.html) (obituary), *The Telegraph*, London, 14 February 2004
- [Sir John Killick: Ambassador to the Soviet Union whose cool nerves were tested in Cold War diplomatic tit-for-tat](https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/sir-john-killick-m2j98kpkpdj), *The Times*, London, 19 February 2004
- [Obituary: Sir John Killick, 1919 - 2004, Field Security Officer, 89 (Parachute) Field Security Section](http://www.89fss.com/intsum/obit_killick.htm)
- [Interview with Sir John Killick](http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FDOHP%2069), British Diplomatic Oral History Programme, Churchill College, Cambridge, 2002
- [1st British Airborne Division officers](https://www.unithistories.com/officers/1AirbDiv_officersK.htm#Killick_JE)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [John Killick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Killick) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Killick?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.