high commissioner to Pakistan
What was the position of Gilbert Laithwaite from 1951 to 1954?
Gilbert Laithwaite Sir John Gilbert Laithwaite ( 5 July 1894 – 21 December 1986 ) was a British civil servant and diplomat , born and raised in Ireland , who had the rare distinction of becoming Ambassador to the country of his birth . He reached the top of his profession , becoming Permanent Secretary of the Commonwealth Relations Office in 1955 . Early life . Gilbert Laithwaite was the eldest of two sons and two daughters , born in Dublin . His father was John Laithwaite of the Post Office survey . His mother was Mary Kearney whose family hailed from Castlerea , Co . Roscommon . Laithwaite was a first cousin of the Irish Republican leader Ernie OMalley . Laithwaite went to Clongowes Wood College , where he won a scholarship to Trinity College , Oxford , going on to achieve a second class degree . He received an honorary fellowship from that college in 1955 . Laithwaite was homosexual . War service . In the First World War , Laithwaite served in the British army in France as a second lieutenant with the 10th Lancashire Fusiliers . He was wounded in 1918 . In 1971 he published an account of part of his war experience entitled 21 March 1918 : Memories of an Infantry Officer . Career . Following the war Laithwaite joined the India Office . In 1931 he was attached to Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald for the second Indian round-table conference in London . Work in India followed , on the Lothian Committee on Indian Franchise , which extended the Indian franchise to 35 million voters . From 1936 to 1943 he was principal private secretary to the Viceroy of India , Lord Linlithgow . In 1943 he returned to Britain as assistant under-secretary of state for India . In 1947 he took part in London talks on Burmese independence , also attended by Stafford Cripps and Aung San . In 1949 he became United Kingdom representative , and from 1 July 1950 Ambassador , to the Republic of Ireland ( where , despite being half Irish , he was generally seen as less successful than his predecessor Lord Rugby in establishing friendly relations with members of the Irish Cabinet ) . In 1951 he became high commissioner to Pakistan . In this position he became concerned with the implications of US military aid to Pakistan under Iskander Mirza . He reached the apex of his career as Permanent Secretary at the Commonwealth Relations Office from 1955 to 1959 , visiting Australia and New Zealand . From 1963 to 1966 he was vice-chairman of the Commonwealth Institute . Honours . Laithwaite was appointed CIE in the 1935 New Year Honours , CSI in the 1938 New Year Honours and knighted KCIE in 1941 . He was further appointed KCMG in the 1948 New Year Honours , GCMG in the 1953 Coronation Honours and KCB in the 1956 New Year Honours . In 1960 he was appointed a Knight of Malta . He was president of the Hakluyt Society ( 1964–69 ) , vice-president of the Royal Central Asian Society ( 1967 ) and president of the Royal Geographical Society ( 1966–69 ) .