13 Facts About Owen O'Malley

Sir Owen St Clair O'Malley was a British diplomat.

Owen O'Malley was Minister to Hungary between 1939 and 1941.

Owen O'Malley was British ambassador to the Polish government in exile in London during World War II.

Owen O'Malley was educated at Rugby School, Radley College and Magdalen College at the University of Oxford.

Owen O'Malley served as British Minister to Budapest between May 1939 and April 1941.

Owen O'Malley helped British secret agents Andrzej Kowerski and Krystyna Skarbek escape Eastern Europe as German forces were advancing.

Owen O'Malley was appointed ambassador to the Polish government-in-exile in February 1943.

Owen O'Malley is particularly noted for his incisive report sent on 24 May 1943 to the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, on the Katyn Massacre indicating the likelihood of Soviet guilt and the moral issues raised.

Besides his report on Katyn, Owen O'Malley was critical of Churchill's role in acceding to Stalin's demands regarding the frontiers of Polish territory after the war.

Owen O'Malley raised questions about the British government's complicity in the annexation of another country's territory and whether "the basis of international law is to be law or an exhibition of power politics".

Owen O'Malley was appointed a CMG in 1927 and a KCMG in 1947.

In 1913, on holiday in Scotland, Owen O'Malley met Mary Ann Dolling Sanders, who later became a novelist using the pseudonym of Ann Bridge.

Sir Owen O'Malley died on 16 April 1974 at 27 Charlbury Road, Oxford, five weeks after the death of his wife.