Nigel Cox

Nigel Cox is a former British diplomat. He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin. In 1976, just after the death of Chairman Mao, he started two years’ training in Mandarin Chinese, in Cambridge and Hong Kong. He spent a total of eight years at the British Embassy in Beijing, including from 2000 to 2002 as deputy to the Ambassador, in the rank of Minister and Consul-General. He was then appointed Director Asia-Pacific, responsible for UK relations with the whole region from Myanmar to Japan and from Mongolia to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands.  He was previously Head of the South-East Asian Department. Earlier he had served for six years in Paris.   

After a year’s secondment to business (the P&O Group and AstraZeneca), Nigel left the Diplomatic Service and worked as a consultant on power generation investment openings in Vietnam. From 2009 to 2013 he was Clerk to one of London’s ancient guilds, the Fishmongers’ Company.  He now works part-time in the Foreign Office Archives, advising on whether redactions are required before files are released to the public.  He also undertakes voluntary work, including with English Heritage as a guide at Apsley House (The Wellington Museum) in London. He has published articles and reviews, and recently contributed five chapters to Brave Lives, an account of members of the Travellers Club in London who were killed in the First World War. 

Nigel is married to Olivia, also a former diplomat, whose Great-Great-Great-Uncle travelled with Lear on some of his travels around Greece and was a lifelong friend. On this tour Nigel will speak about Lear’s Greece, Albania and Italy connections and about his further travels in Egypt/the Holy Land and India/Ceylon. He also hopes there may be time to discuss Greek-Turkish relations, deposed monarchs of the Eastern Mediterranean and British Embassies in the region.