Antony Duff

Born in 1920 to Admiral Sir Arthur Allen Morison Duff KCB and Margaret Grace Dawson at Var Trees House, Moreton.[1] Educated at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Duff started his career in the Royal Navy where he was a submarine commander during the Second World War; he briefly commanded HMS Otway and HMS L23 in 1942 before commanding HMS Stubborn from December 1942 to July 1944.[2]

After the war Duff joined the Diplomatic Service in January 1946.[1] He was Counsellor and Head of the Chancery of the United Kingdom Embassy in West Germany from 1962 to 1964, the British Ambassador to Nepal from 1964 to 1965; the Head of the South Asia Department of the Foreign Office from 1965 to 1969; the Deputy High Commissioner to Malaysia from 1969 to 1972; and the British High Commissioner to Kenya from 1972 to 1975.[3][4]

Duff was the Deputy Under Secretary for Middle East and Africa from 1975 to 1977; and the Deputy Under Secretary for Defence and Intelligence from 1977 to 1990, including serving concurrently as the Senior Deputy Under Secretary from 1976 to 1979.[1] Having led the British official delegation to the Lancaster House talks, he became Deputy Governor of Southern Rhodesia under Lord Soames from 1979 to 1980.[5]

Duff was sworn of the Privy Council in 1980, the first diplomat to be so honoured since Sir Alexander Cadogan in 1940. Duff was Deputy Secretary (Intelligence and Security Co-ordinator) at the Cabinet Office with responsibility for security matters from 1980 to 1984. He was then Director General of the Security Service (MI5) from 1985 to 1988.[6][7]

After his retirement in January 1988, Duff worked as a volunteer in a centre for the homeless and was a board member of Homeless Network in London.[8]

• Andrew, Christopher (2010). Defence of the Realm: The Authorised History of MI5. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-102330-4.