John Banks Elliott
John Banks Elliott | |
|---|---|
 Elliott, February 2011 | |
| Ghanaian Ambassador to the Soviet Union | |
| In office 1960–1966 | |
| President | Kwame Nkrumah |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 February 1917 Cape Coast, Gold Coast (now Ghana) |
| Died | 18 July 2018 (aged 101) Ghana |
John Banks Elliott (9 February 1917 – 18 July 2018)[1] was a Ghanaian diplomat and statesman. He was Ghana's first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Soviet Union,[2] serving from 1960 to 1966.
Early life
[edit]
Born in 1917 to Gerald Barton Elliott, a lawyer and auctioneer at large, and Mary Wood-Elliott, a sacristan, he was named after his grandfather who came to the Gold Coast as a timber merchant with attention to detail; one of his passions was photography, J. Banks Elliott's photographs of the Gold Coast showing trading stations, factories, towns, markets and people taken in 1880-1890 are archived at the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies, Rhodes House, Oxford.
Career
[edit]During his tenure, he was Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Head of Commonwealth Ambassadors, Head of African and Asian Diplomats, and Head of the African Ambassadors Group. His appointment as ambassador designate to the USSR was announced in Moscow on 8 January 1960, and commented on in the Central Intelligence Agency bulletin of 12 January 1960. [3] During the 1963 Moscow protest he requested Militsiya protection for the Ghanaian embassy and suggested that students involved in the protest were being instigated by Western embassies.
His accreditation to the Soviet Union was directed by the last Governor-General of the Dominion of Ghana, the Earl of Listowel, William Francis Hare under the direction of Queen Elizabeth II.[4] Ambassador John Banks Elliott presented his first credentials to the then Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet Kliment Voroshilov On 1 July 1960, Ghana became an independent republic within the Commonwealth, and the first President of the Republic of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah reaccredited his appointment,[5] which he presented to the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council Leonid Brezhnev.
Elliott turned 100 on 9 February 2017.[6]
Personal life
[edit]In 1950, his daughter Alice Ivy Elliott was born in the Gold Coast. She was a ballet teacher and choreographer.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "H E John Banks Elliott's Obituary on The Times". The Times.
- ^
- "A Chronicle of the day, 1960 № 13". Newsreel Daily News. 1960. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
- Miller, John (2010). All Them Cornfields and Ballet in the Evening. Hodgson Press. pp. 40–. ISBN 9781906164126. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
- "Ghana Ambassador Now in Russia". Pittsburgh Courier. 9 April 1960. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
- The Current Digest of the Soviet Press. American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. 1960.
- ^
- CIA-RDP79T00975A004900080001-9.pdf
- Report of the Conference of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations J. Delegates and observers attending the tenth session of the conference http://www.fao.org/docrep/x5573e/x5573e0t.htm
- ^
- Ambassador John Banks Elliott. copy 1.2 Accreditation from Queen Elizabeth II. 01.1960г.англ1.jpg
- Ambassador John Banks Elliott. copy 2.2 Accreditation from Queen Elizabeth II. 01.1960г.англ2.jpg
- ^
- Ambassador John Banks Elliott. copy 1-2 Accreditation from President Kwame Nkrumah. 07.1960г.англ1.jpg
- Ambassador John Banks Elliott. copy 2-2 Accreditation from President Kwame Nkrumah. 07.1960г.англ2.jpg
- ^ David Lee (16 February 2017). "Maidenhead man who was Ghana's first ambassador to the Soviet Union celebrates 100th birthday". Slough and Windsor Express. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
External links
[edit]- (two volumes reference number GB 162 MSS.Afr.s.1956) http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/blcas/elliott-jb.html
- http://www.britishpathe.com/video/nkrumah-sees-moscow
- Newsreel Daily News/A Chronicle of the day January 1961 No.28, fragment 2 Moscow, President Kwame Nkrumah visit to Brezhnev, Khrushchev in the Kremlin http://www.net-film.ru/en/film-11021/?search=p13%7cv2%7cs1
- Newsreel Daily News/A Chronicle of the day January 1962 No.3, fragment 2. Visit of First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Mikoyan in Accra, Ghana. http://www.net-film.ru/en/film-11117/?search=q1962%7cv2%7cs1
- Newsreel Daily News A Chronicle of the day 1960 № 33, fragment 1 Nikita Khrushchev in the Crimea with governmental delegation of the Republic of Ghana. http://www.net-film.ru/en/film-10914/?search=p8%7cv2%7cs1
- Mr. Khrushchev in Jovial, Joke-Cracking Mood Moscow June 7, 1961, The Age, Melbourne. 8 June 1961, page 3 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dKQRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vecDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5601%2C1078526
- Reuters ref. 5511/61 Moscow 26 July 1961 http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//RTV/1961/07/27/BGY504090272/?s=*
- African tightrope: my two years as Nkrumah's Chief of Staff. By H.T. Alexander. Chapter 4. The Congo situation. Page 38. Pall Mall Press, London, 1965 https://books.google.com/books?id=04lyAAAAMAAJ&q=Ghanaian+ambassador+in+Moscow
- Soviet Officials, Families begin exodus from Ghana by plane. Page 3. Section five. Column 3. Eugene Register-Guard - Google News Archive Search https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RigRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NOEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5211%2C96028
- Ambassador Elliott received a congratulatory message from the Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Dr Alexander Yakovenko http://www.rusemb.org.uk/fnapr/5970
- http://www.rusemb.org.uk/data/img/press/5970_1b.jpg
- Ambassador John Banks Elliott signs for the Government of the Republic of Ghana. Treaty banning nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water. Signed in Moscow on 5 August 1963. No 6964: page 50 https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20480/volume-480-I-6964-English.pdf
