Andrew Ryan (diplomat)

Sir
Andrew Ryan
Born(1876-11-05)5 November 1876
Died31 December 1949(1949-12-31) (aged 73)
NationalityBritish
Alma materQueens College Cork (RUI)
Emmanuel College, Cambridge
OccupationDiplomat
ChildrenColumba Ryan
John Ryan
Parent(s)Edward Ryan
Matilda Ryan
RelativesBishop Finbar Ryan (brother)
Prof. Mary Ryan (sister)
Sir Thomas Ryan (brother)

Sir Andrew Ryan KBE CMG (5 November 1876 – 31 December 1949) was a British diplomat.[1] He was Consul-General to Morocco from 1924 to 1930, Minister to Saudi Arabia from 1930 to 1936,[2] and Consul-General to Albania from 1936 to 1939.[3]

Ryan was born on 5 November 1876 in Rochestown, County Cork, Ireland, the son of Edward Ryan, a soap and candle manufacturer of Douglas, Cork, and his wife Matilda O'Connor. He was educated at the Christian Brothers College, Cork, and at Queen's College, Cork, where he graduated BA in Greek and Latin from the Royal University of Ireland, and then proceeded to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where from 1897 to 1899 he trained as an interpreter on a course run for the consular department of the British Foreign Office, studying Arabic, Turkish, and law.[4]

In 1913 Ryan married Ruth Margaret van Millingen of Dunblane, Perthshire. They had four sons, including the Roman Catholic theologian and philosopher Columba Ryan and the cartoonist John Ryan.[5][4]

His sister Mary Ryan was the first woman to become a professor in Great Britain or Ireland. His brother Sir Thomas Ryan (1879–1934) worked in the Indian Civil Service, and a younger brother was the Dominican priest Patrick Finbar Ryan OP, Archbishop of Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Ryan's autobiography, The Last of the Dragomans, was published by Geoffrey Bles in 1951.

  1. ^ "RYAN, Sir Andrew". Who Was Who. A & C Black. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  2. ^ "British Ambassadors and High Commissioners 1880-2010" (PDF). Colin Mackie, Gulabin.com. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  3. ^ Elsie, Robert (2010). Historical Dictionary of Albania. Scarecrow Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-8108-6188-6. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  4. ^ a b David Morray, "Sir Andrew Ryan", Dictionary of Irish Biography online edition
  5. ^ "John Ryan". The Telegraph. 24 July 2009. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 24 August 2020.