Obituary: Dr Keith Hamilton (1942-2023)

Obituary: Dr Keith Hamilton 1942-2023

Keith Hamilton, who has died aged 81, was one of a generation of historians—like his good friend and contemporary Professor Michael Dockrill—who pioneered our understanding of British diplomacy in the twentieth century.

Keith was a wartime baby, born on 20 September 1942 in Bradford, Yorkshire. After the war, the family moved to Dover where Keith attended the local Grammar School.

In the early Sixties, he studied for a BSc (Econ.) in International History at the London School of Economics (LSE).

In the summer of 1962, Keith worked as a student business trainee for the clothing company Berghaus in Amsterdam, analysing the sales potential of women’s clothing designs. It was not a career path he eventually chose but thereafter he was fluent in Dutch: little known to many but a source of huge pride to him. After graduating in 1964, he stayed at the LSE to complete a PhD on the Embassy of Sir Francis Bertie at Paris (1905-14), a subject he later expanded into a monograph: Bertie of Thame: Edwardian Ambassador (1990).

After a temporary teaching post at the LSE he took the advice of his supervisor Professor W. N. Medlicott (Stevenson Chair in International History at the LSE) to apply for a lectureship at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. From 1967 to 1990, he taught on international history of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, along with international relations, in the Department of International Politics. It was in Aberystwyth that he met his wife Kathy, who was studying to be a librarian, and they married in November 1974.

In 1990, Keith joined the Historical Branch of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as an editor of Documents on British Policy Overseas (DBPO), the post-1945 official history of British foreign policy. He edited countless volumes, helping to 1

reinvigorate the series by publishing documents from the ‘closed’ period i.e. not yet in the public domain.

However, he soon learned that this was not the only task he was required to perform.

He also researched and wrote a wide range of in-house publications relating to the history of the Foreign Office as an institution. There were History Notes on the Foreign Office Library, the office of the Chief Clerk and the Permanent Under-Secretary. His work on the nineteenth century Slave Trade Department led to an edited collection of essays: Slavery, Diplomacy and Empire: Britain and the Suppression of the Slave Trade, 1807-1975 (2009).

Keith’s vast knowledge of British and European diplomatic history proved extremely useful in the other side of the Historians’ work, that of providing ‘advice’ to Ministers and senior officials. This work, ranging from jokes for a speech to major pieces of research on specific subjects, played to Keith’s strengths. Whilst his encyclopaedic memory for dates and events could always summon up an appropriate anniversary if the Historians felt the need for a little celebration.

Although Keith retired from the FCO in 2002, he stayed on as a consultant editor and his prestigious output continued. Along with DBPO volumes on, The Year of Europe: America, Europe and the Energy Crisis, 1972-1974 (2006), The Southern Flank in Crisis 1973-1976 (2006), and Berlin in the Cold War 1948-1990 (2009) he authored the authoritative, Transformational Diplomacy after the Cold War: Britain’s Know How Fund in Post-Communist Europe, 1989-2003 (2013).

Keith was a warm hearted and supportive colleague, always willing to share his knowledge with others. He was generous with his time, especially to younger scholars and doctoral students, always an approachable and helpful presence. He was also great fun to be with, a brilliant raconteur with a wonderful sense of humour. However, his light-hearted manner belied a serious craft: ‘The truth I suppose,’ he once said, ‘is that historical research should never be undertaken with a light heart. It demands a sturdy constitution and a determined mind.’

Keith was the master of detail, understanding the nuances of diplomatic language and able to unpick complicated stories of diplomacy turning them into colourful tales about the history of the Foreign Office. Personalities were brought to life, even the ones that seemed dull: there was always a story. Many of these found their way into his last book, Servants of Diplomacy: A Domestic History of the Victorian Foreign Office (2021), in many ways the crowning achievement of his long career.

In June 2015, he was appointed Visiting Professor at King’s College, London. Whilst delighted with the honour his response was typically self-effacing: ‘The title seems a bit on the grand side for the likes of me’. Despite all his achievements, he remained a modest man. His sudden passing is a great loss to all who knew him, and to the study of diplomatic history and the British Foreign Office.

Dr Keith Alexander Hamilton died on 11 October 2023 after a short illness.

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