Vince Roberts Explained

Vince Roberts
Office:New Zealand ambassador to the Netherlands
Term Start:6 January 1972
Term End:6 September 1977
Predecessor:Rex Cunninghame
Successor:Gray Thorp
Birth Name:Harold Vincent Roberts
Birth Date:1 October 1916
Death Date:21 April 1993 (aged 76)

Harold Vincent Roberts (1 October 1916–21 April 1993) was a New Zealand public servant and diplomat.

Biography

In 1959 Roberts joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1964 to 1969 He was posted to the New Zealand Embassy in Paris as counsellor and on two occasions was Chargé d'affaires. In 1971 he was appointed New Zealand ambassador to the Netherlands by the prime minister Sir Keith Holyoake.[1] In 1973 he was given concurrent accreditation to both Norway and Sweden.[2] The most notable event during his tenure was when New Zealand took France to the World Court in The Hague on the issue of French nuclear tests in the Pacific.[3] He left the post in 1977 and returned to Wellington.[4] He was then the head of the African and Middle East Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and led a New Zealand delegation to Geneva in 1980 to press for a treaty to comprehensively ban nuclear testing.[5]

Roberts died on 21 April 1993, aged 76. He was cremated at the Karori Cemetery crematorium.[6]

Notes and References

  1. News: Ambassador to Netherlands . . 27 September 1971 . 32722 . CXI . 4 .
  2. News: Diplomatic posts . . 1 August 1973 . CXIII . 33292 . 22 .
  3. News: N.Z. gives World Court answers . . 18 July 1974 . CXIV . 33589 . 7 .
  4. News: Ambassador to Netherlands . . 4 May 1977 . 24 .
  5. News: N.Z. to press again for nuclear-test ban . . 28 July 1980 . 5 .
  6. Web site: Memorial Information . . 20 August 2024 .