Ritchie, Charles ___ 1906-1995 ___ Canadian ___ diplomat

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
There is limited information about Charles Ritchie easily available on the internet, even though he was a distinguished diplomat and one of Canada's most celebrated diarists. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he studied at university in Canada and at Oxford. He joined the Canadian Department of External Affairs in 1939, and remained a diplomat until his retirement in 1971. Early on, he was posted to London, where, still single, he had a long affair with the writer Elizabeth Bowen whose husband was an alcoholic. After the war, in the mid-1950s, Ritchie was promoted to ambassador in Germany. He also served four year terms as Canada's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, as ambassador in Washington, and as High Commissioner in London. His diaries were published in several volumes covering different periods of his life; 'The Siren Years', for example, is rich in detail about his affair with Bowen.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - V happy with E

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1924-1971 ___ literary political people society love/sex UK France India Germany

WEB TEXT LINKS
about and quotes
a few pages
about and some extracts

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
 

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
An Appetite for Life: The Education of a Young Diarist
The Siren Years: Undiplomatic Diaries
Diplomatic Passport: More Undiplomatic Diaries
 

May 2005, August 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.