Nigel Wenban-Smith

William Nigel Wenban-Smith CMG (born 1 September 1936) is a former British diplomat.[1]

Early life

Wenban-Smith is the son of William Wenban-Smith, a colonial administrator who served in the former Nyasaland (now Malawi).[2] He was educated at The King's School, Canterbury followed by King's College Cambridge, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree.[1] He spent his national service in the Royal Navy.[1]

Career

After national service Wenban-Smith became a Plebiscite Supervisory Officer in the Southern Cameroons (now Ambazonia) from 1960-1961.[1] At the time, this region was deciding to join Nigeria or become part of Cameroon, and he had some difficulty in communicating the exact terms of federation with Cameroon to voters.[3]

He was then an Assistant Principal with the Commonwealth Relations Office[1] - which would eventually be merged with the Foreign Office. Following diplomatic postings in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Ireland, and Belgium, he became Commissioner for the British Indian Ocean Territory (1982-1985) and then Deputy High Commissioner in Ottawa (1986-1989).[1] In 1990 he was appointed High Commissioner to Malawi, succeeding Denis Osborne.[4]

In retirement he served as Chairman of the Friends of the Chagos Islands Association and later earned an MA from the University of Buckingham.[1]


Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Denis Osborne		 British High Commissioner to Malawi
1990-1993		 Succeeded by
John Martin

References
  1. "Wenban-Smith, (William) Nigel". Who's Who. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  2. Baker, Colin (1999). "William Wenban-Smith". The Society of Malawi Journal. 52 (2): 78–80. JSTOR 29779040.
  3. Percival, John (2008). The 1961 Cameroon Plebiscite: Choice or Betrayal. African Books Collective. p. 8.
  4. "British Diplomats Directory: Part 2 of 4". Issuu. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
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