| Thomas Henry Brind | =???? | Nellie Winifred Blanche Lawrence |
| b. 1882 | b. 1886 | |
| d. E Glamorgan Jan 31, 1949 (66) | d. E Glamorgan 1964 (78) |
| || |
| Arthur Henry | |
| b. July 4, 1927 | |
| = 1954 Barbara Harrison | |
| d. November 3, 2020 (93) |
| Return to index | Skeleton of tree |
| Who's Who 2000 BRIND, (Arthur) Henry, CMG 1973; HM Diplomatic Service, retired; b 4 July 1927; o s of late T. H. Brind and late N. W. B. Brind; m 1954, Barbara Harrison; one s one d. Educ: Barry; St John's Coll., Cambridge. HM Forces, 1947-49. Colonial Administrative Service: Gold Coast/Ghana, 1950-60; Regional Sec., Trans-Volta Togoland, 1959. HM Diplomatic Service, 1960-87: Acting High Comr, Uganda, 1972-73; High Comr, Mauritius, 1974-77; Ambassador to Somali Democratic Republic, 1977-80; Vis. Research Fellow, RIIA, 1981-82; High Comr, Malawi, 1983-87. Grand Comdr, Order of Lion of Malawi, 1985. Recreations: walking, swimming, books. Address: 20 Grove Terrace, NW5 1PH. T: (020) 7267 1190. Club: Reform. | |
| Harry Brind, diplomat who negotiated a tricky relationship with Idi Amin - obituary from the Daily Telegraph.
HARRY BRIND, who has died aged 93, had a remarkable career for a British diplomat, being head of mission in four African countries in succession -Uganda, Mauritius, Somalia and Malawi - having begun his career with the Colonial Service in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). These postings put him at close quarters with four of Africa's post-independence autocrats - Idi Amin, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Siad Barre and Dr Hastings Banda - and gave him a nodding acquaintance with Kwame Nkrumah. |  |
|
Inevitably, Brind's relationship with Amin - notably during his eight months as acting High Commissioner in Kampala after his predecessor had been asked to leave - was the toughest. Yet he was the only head of mission during Amin's murderous reign who left at a time of his own choosing.
Brind confessed that he "got away with remarks that a couple of years later would probably have guaranteed my expulsion". Brind found it best not to pull his punches with Amin when he was summoned to the presence. Drawing on his experience as a district officer in West Africa, "I recognised the type, and knew how to handle them." In January 1973, as Amin's reign of terror was getting under way, Brind had a three-hour meeting a deux with him. Amin asked if it was an opportune time for him to visit Britain; Brind told him frankly that it was not. Brind sat next to Amin at Kampala's annual St George's and St Andrew's Day dinners. He also took part in a Remembrance ceremony at which Amin told him that the Germans would have won had they made fewer enemies. Though his relationship with Amin was tense and nervous, Brind was relieved that on his watch no Britons were killed, although 1,200 of the 7,000 remaining expats left the country. Arthur Henry Brind was born on July 41927, and brought up at Barry in South Wales. He went up to St John's College, Cambridge in 1944 to read History, and as a scholar was allowed to complete his degree instead of being called up as the war ended. Graduating in 1947, he spent most of his Army service as an acting captain, teaching history to officer recruits at Sandhurst. Selected for the Colonial Service in 1950, Brind was sent to the Gold Coast. The governor told him he had a job for life, but his arrival coincided with a Government commitment to independence (which was achieved in 1957) and Nkrumah's party winning the country's first election. Brind started as an assistant district commissioner at Enchi, on the border with the Ivory Coast; there was no telephone, and the nearest European or doctor was 45 miles away. In 1956 he was sent up-country to Trans-Volta Togo, part of a former German colony split with France; some older inhabitants remembered being flogged by the Germans. Many locals had voted against absorption into Ghana in a UN plebiscite, and one protest turned violent; Brind read the Riot Act to 40 armed demonstrators, then had them arrested. At their trial they were defended by Joe Appiah, the Ghanaian son-in law of Sir Stafford Cripps. Brind stayed on after independence, reading Nkrumah's anti-colonialist tirades to the locals in his full DC's uniform. Returning to London in 1960, he joined the Commonwealth Relations office, working in its economic policy department. From 1963 to 1967 he was a first secretary in Ottawa - his only non-African posting, though he did later turn down Rej'kjavik. After a year in charge of the Foreign Office unit responsible for enforcing sanctions against Rhodesia - a task he found impossible - he moved to the FO's European Integration Department. Then a backwater, EID mattered from 1970 when France dropped its veto on Britain joining the EEC, and it handled the negotiations led by Con O'Neill. Brind was appointed deputy high commissioner in Kampala soon after the coup in January 1971 in which Amin ousted Milton Obote. The view in London then was that Amin, a former sergeant in the King's African Rifles, was a better proposition than the hardline anti-colonialist he had overthrown. By the time Brind arrived that September, Amin was becoming erratic and autocratic. He expected Britain to bankroll his most ; extravagant schemes, and his opponents began to disappear. In August 1972 Amin ordered every Asian in the country - Ugandan citizens included - to leave. Britain said it would take those who qualified for British passports - 24,000, all of ; whom the High Commission had to track down. Upset by Fleet Street's hostile reaction, Amin accused the British | government of trying to assassinate him and preparing to invade. That September, in what Brind reckoned his toughest week, many Britons were arrested. Unlike numerous Ugandans also detained, they were seen again. When Amin told the High Commissioner, Richard Slater, to "leave with the last Asian", Brind took over on an acting basis. London cancelled a loan to Uganda, and in December Amin went on television to announce the expropriation of several British businesses and expulsion of some aid workers. In June 1973 James Hennessey, whose relationship with Amin would be torrid as the terror worsened, arrived as the new High Commissioner, and Brind went home - almost immediately being appointed to Mauritius as High Commissioner. When in 1976 the Organisation for African Unity met in Mauritius, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam succeeded Amin as chairman; Amin was puzzled to encounter Brind in the receiving line. Appointed Ambassador to the Somali Republic in May 1977, Brind, unusually, went straight there from Mauritius. The post had been unfilled for 15 months, and he found the residence deserted, with no staff, and the Foreign Office minister Ted Rowlands due to visit in three days. Leaving Mogadishu in 1981, Brind spent a sabbatical year at Chatham House researching Soviet policy toward the Horn of Africa. His final posting, from 1983 to 1987, was as High Commissioner to Malawi. The paternal but autocratic Hastings Banda was by then well into his eighties. Brind found him eager to talk about anything other than Malawi or the matter in hand. Nevertheless, they got on well, and he was Banda's guest of honour at his Independence Day banquet. Brind cleared the way for Banda's state visit to Britain in 1985 by persuading him to reprieve two Malawians sentenced to death for treason. He then saw to his horror that the Palace's formal invitation was addressed to the King of Spain; fortunately the president's eyesight was poor. On the visit, Brind and his wife stayed at Windsor Castle. After the state banquet, the Queen asked him if the president was ready for bed. When he told her that Banda was still enjoying the party, she replied: "I can never get my mama to go to bed." Banda subsequently bestowed on Brind the order of the Lion of Malawi. He was appointed CMG in 1973. Harry Brind married Barbara Harrison in 1954; she died in 2012. He is survived by their son and daughter. Harry Brind, born July 4, 1927, died November 3, 2020 | |