Congratulatory letters to Sir Alfred Stanley Fordham K.B.E., C.M.G. (1907-81) who was educated at Eton and studied at Trinity College, Cambridge before joining the Foreign Service and becoming a career diplomat. He was Vice-Consul in San Francisco in 1932. Other stations in his career included Lima (1933–1936), Guatemala (1936–1943), Los Angeles (1943–1944), San Salvador (1944–1945) and St. Louis (1945–1948). From 1949 to 1951 he was Head of the American Department in the Foreign Office. From 1951 to 1952 he was Counsellor in Warsaw, from 1952 to 1954 in the same capacity in Stockholm, and in 1954 Minister in Buenos Aires. In 1956 he became British Ambassador in Havana and in 1960 he became ambassador to Colombia. This archive contains 50 congratulatory letters sent from all over the world on the occasion of his knighthood in the New Years Honours List of 1964.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
50 letters and telegrams, typed and hand written, many on Embassy headed-paper fill this small black Titan ring bound folder. ‘Very many congratulations on your ‘K’’ begins the first letter sent from The Foreign Office SW1 dated January 6th 1964. The same sentiments follow from embassies all around the world. Jack Ward writes from Rome, Carey Foster from The Hague, Gilbert Smith from Lima and colleagues from Montevideo, Tunis, Bucharest, Laos, Lima, Djakarta, Guatamala City and San Salvador. The commodore of the steam liner Reina del Mar, a tailor’s in Saville Row, retired colleagues and the University of Washington send further congratulations. Several letters are written in Spanish addressed to Lady Fordham. Affixed to the front pastedown is a newspaper cutting labelled Bogota, Enero 12 1964 titled ‘Distincion Que Debemos Aplaudie’, [A Distinction Which We Should Applaud]. The final letter in the folder is typed and dated June 16 1964, sent from the Foreign Office thanking ‘Dear Fordham’ on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government for his loyal and valuable service; signed Rab Butler, Foreign Secretary.
