Leslie Alfred Charles Fry


Sir Leslie Alfred Charles Fry was a British diplomat, who served as Ambassador to Hungary, Indonesia and Brazil. He was awarded Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross by the Government of Brazil. During the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 he opened the doors of the British embassy to Hungarian refugees, receiving a knighthood the following year.

Life

Leslie "Bunny" Fry was born in 1908 in Monmouthshire, Wales and christened in Jammu and Kashmir.
Fry's parents were Florence Rose Fry and Alfred Andrew Fry MBE. Leslie Fry's father was a Freemason who prior to World War I had served in the South Wales Borderers as a Lieutenant and Quartermaster, Monmouthshire Regiment, 3rd Battalion, and during World War I as both a captain in the British Army, Monmouthshire Regiment, 3rd Battalion and a lieutenant in the Royal Air Force, 12th Wing,
Fry attended the Royal Masonic School and later graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Fry's first wife was Mary Cuerden, from whom he separated and remarried. Mary Cuerden's second husband was Captain Basil Gerritsen Ivory, formerly of the Special Operations Executive and director of the investment trust British Assets Trust Limited. Fry's second wife was Marian Bentley, whom he married in 1954.

British Army career

Fry joined the British Army in India from 1928.
2 Feb 1928 promoted to Second Lieutenant, Indian Army
1933 transferred to the Indian Political Service
1941–1944 Undersecretary of the Government of India in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1946 Deputy Secretary of the Government of India in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Diplomatic career

23 Jun 1947 joined His Majesty's Foreign Service at the Seventh Grade
30 Oct 1947 transferred from Indian Civil Service to Foreign Office
1951–1953 Minister-Counsellor in Lisbon
1953–1955 Head of the Foreign Office's Eastern Department
24 Oct 1955 appointed Her Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Budapest
11 Feb 1959 appointed Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Djakarta
16 Jun 1963 – 1966 Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Rio de Janeiro replacing Geoffrey Wallinger
Fry retired in 1966 and returned to Britain.

Awards and honours