Eugen Millington-Drake Explained

Sir Eugen Millington-Drake
Birth Name:	John Henry Eugen Vanderstegen Millington
Birth Date:	26 February 1889
Birth Place:	Paris, France
Nationality:	British
Education:	Eton College
Alma Mater:	Magdalen College, Oxford
Occupation:	Diplomat
Children:	4, including Teddy

Sir John Henry Eugen Vanderstegen Millington-Drake, (26 February 1889 - 12 December 1972) was a British diplomat.

Origins

Eugen Millington-Drake was born on 26 February 1889 to Henry Drake (born 1859), and Ellen Grangor Millington (married 1888). His father changed his name to Henry Millington-Drake in 1900. His grandfather was John Vanderstegen Drake, which explains his full name. Eugen was born in Paris, yet a British subject through parentage. He was educated at Eton College, an all-boys independent boarding school in Berkshire, England. He then went on to study at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he rowed in the winning 1911 Boat Race crew.

Diplomatic career

In 1912 he had entered the Diplomatic Service and his posts included St. Petersburg (1913); Buenos Aires (1915); at the Paris Peace Delegation and Embassy (1919–1920); First Secretary and Chargé d'Affaires at Bucharest (1921–1924); Brussels (1924–1927); Copenhagen (1927–1928); Counsellor of Embassy, and Buenos Aires (1929–1933).

Service in Uruguay and the Battle of the River Plate

He subsequently became Minister to Uruguay (1934–1941). In 1936 he was the Honorary President of Uruguayan Delegation to the 1936 Summer Olympics. In 1939 he played a pivotal, behind-the scenes role in the Battle of the River Plate. (In the 1956 British war film The Battle of the River Plate he is played by the actor Anthony Bushell, and is portrayed as a well dressed and accomplished diplomat.)

Later roles

He was seconded from the Foreign Office as Chief Representative of the British Council in Spanish America, 1942–1946. In 1948 he was Chairman of the Reception Committee of XIV Olympiad in London. He was vice-president of the Council of the Royal India, Pakistan and Ceylon Society, visiting the East on cultural missions, 1949–1950. In 1952 and 1953 he undertook lecture tours of Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius and Réunion.

Marriage & issue

In 1920 (registration as John H E V Millington-Drake) he married Lady Effie Mackay (born 1895), a younger daughter of the Scottish banker and shipping magnate James Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape, with whom in his later life he lived in Rome.^[1] By his wife he had four^[2] children:

Jean Ellen Millington-Drake (1922–1960) ("Nellie"), eldest daughter, who married firstly in 1944 Rear-Admiral Richard Arthur Hawkesworth, RN,^[3] and having obtained a divorce in 1948 remarried in that year to Ruggero Spano.
Marie Regina Millington-Drake (1924–1973)^[4] (Duchess of Carcaci), an adventurous traveller,^[5] who whilst living in Cyprus (where she built Villa Fortuna at Ayios Epiktitos, now known as Villa Firtina and used as the Turkish Ambassador's summer residence^[6]) had been the lover of the author Lawrence Durrell and had featured (as "Marie") in his auto-biographical novel Bitter Lemons^[7] (1957) and later (as "Martine") in his Sicilian Carousel (1977),^[8] largely a tribute to her.^[9] ^[10] She left Cyprus for Sicily and married Gaetano Paternò-Castello, Duke of Carcaci in Sicily, and lived at Naxos, near Taormina, with issue.^[11]
James Mackay Millington-Drake (1928–1983),^[12] who married Manon Redvers-Bate, with issue;^[13]
Edgar Louis Mackay Vanderstegen Millington-Drake (1932–1994),^[14] Artist, known as "Teddy", youngest child,^[15] ^[16] Died unmarried.

Legacy

The papers of Sir Eugen Millington-Drake are housed at the Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, UK.^[17]

Land for the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede, Surrey was donated by Sir Eugen and Lady Effie Millington-Drake in 1949.^[18]

External links

Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of Sir Eugen Millington-Drake, MLDK

Notes and References

Montague-Smith, P.W. (ed.), Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, Kelly's Directories Ltd, Kingston-upon-Thames, 1968, p.610, Earl of Inchcape
4 per Independent Newspaper, 12 September 1994, obituary of Teddy Millington-Drake; Debrett 1968 lists only 3
The Tatler, 6 Dec 1944: "Hawkesworth Millington-Drake Paymaster Rear-Admiral R. Hawkesworth, R.N., and Miss Jean Ellen Nellie Millington-Drake were married recently in London. The bride is the eldest daughter of Sir Eugen and Lady Effie Millington-Drake ..."
Date of death per http://www.thepeerage.com/p69327.htm#i693262
Independent Newspaper, 12 September 1994, obituary of Teddy Millington-Drake
Web site: Mosaics .
Web site: Bitter Lemons . 25 March 2019 .
See esp. section on Naxos, near Taormina, pp.206-219, and the final poem Autumn Lady: Naxos
Richard Pine, Lawrence Durrell's Woven Web of Guesses, Durrell Studies 2, Cambridge, UK, 2021, p.10 https://www.cambridgescholars.com/resources/pdfs/978-1-5275-6502-9-sample.pdf
Redwine, Bruce, Remarks on Sicilian Carousel and its Fabulator, 2020, published in Islands of the Mind: Psychology, Literature and Biodiversity, eds. Richard Pine, Vera Konidari, Cambridge Scholars, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, pp.83-98 https://www.academia.edu/42204186/_Remarks_on_Sicilian_Carousel_and_Its_Fabulator_
Montague-Smith, P.W. (ed.), Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, Kelly's Directories Ltd, Kingston-upon-Thames, 1968, p.610, Earl of Inchcape
Date of death per http://www.thepeerage.com/p21319.htm#i213185
Montague-Smith, P.W. (ed.), Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, Kelly's Directories Ltd, Kingston-upon-Thames, 1968, p.610, Earl of Inchcape
Montague-Smith, P.W. (ed.), Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, Kelly's Directories Ltd, Kingston-upon-Thames, 1968, p.610, Earl of Inchcape
Independent Newspaper, 12 September 1994, obituary of Teddy Millington-Drake
News: The Independent . Obituary: Teddy Millington-Drake . Jonathan . Hope . 12 September 1994 . 13 October 2018.
Web site: The Papers of Sir Eugen Millington-Drake ArchiveSearch. 2021-10-29. archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk.