Foss Shanahan: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|New Zealand diplomat and public servant (1910–1964)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

[[File:Foss Shanahan.jpg|thumb|Shanahan in 1955]]

'''Foss Shanahan''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CMG|size=85%}} (10 June 1910 – 13 September 1964) was a New Zealand diplomat and public servant.

==Biography==

Shanahan was born on 10 June 1910 at [[Alexandra, New Zealand|Alexandra]]. He was educated at the [[Kavanagh College|Christian Brothers' Boys' School]] in [[Dunedin]] and [[Waitaki Boys' High School]], passing the public service entrance examination in 1926. He joined the public service in 1928 and studied part-time at the [[University of Otago]] and [[Victoria University of Wellington]], graduating from Victoria with a Master of Laws (LLM) in 1936.<ref name="DNZB Shanahan">{{DNZB|McGibbon|Ian|5s11|Shanahan, Foss|16 August 2012|}}</ref>

He started in the Customs Department, then in 1939 joined the Prime Minister’s Department, in the section that became the [[New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade]]. He was Assistant Secretary of the War Cabinet 1940-45, Deputy Secretary of the External Affairs Department 1943-55, [[Secretary of the Cabinet (New Zealand)|Secretary of Cabinet]] 1946-55,<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |date=19 December 1945 |title=Personal Items |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19451219.2.90?items_per_page=10&page=7&phrase=2&query=%22secretary+to+cabinet%22&snippet=true |work=Evening Post Volume CXL Issue 147 Page 8 |location=Wellington |access-date=11 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |date=13 June 1955 |title=N.Z. Mission in Singapore |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19451219.2.90?items_per_page=10&page=7&phrase=2&query=%22secretary+to+cabinet%22&snippet=true |work=Press Volume XCI Issue 27683 Page 10 |location=Christchurch |access-date=11 October 2021}}</ref> and Head of Defence Secretariat 1949-55. He set up the Cabinet Secretariat, and was known as "Foss the Boss."

He served as Commissioner then High Commissioner to Singapore (also to Malaya and Ambassador to Thailand) 1955-58, then as High Commissioner to Canada 1958-61 and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York 1958-62. In the [[1962 Birthday Honours (New Zealand)|1962 Queen's Birthday Honours]], Shanahan was appointed a [[Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=42685 |date=10 June 1961 |page=4347 |supp=3}}</ref>

He died (of a brain tumour) on 13 September 1964 in [[Wellington]].<ref name="DNZB Shanahan"/>

==Personal life==

He married Joan Katherine McCormick <ref>{{cite web|url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19380528.2.196.1?end_date=01-06-1938&items_per_page=10&page=3&query=Shanahan&snippet=true&start_date=01-04-1938 |title= Weddings (page down) |publisher= Evening Post in Papers Past |date=28 May 1938 }}</ref> (or Joan Mason) on 18 April 1938; they had four sons and one daughter.<ref name="DNZB Shanahan"/>

==External links==

* [http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Salient24131961-t1-body-d11.html 1961 letter to ''Salient'' "The Challenge of Change" by Foss Shanahan]

{{Reflist}}

*''Unofficial Channels: Letters between Alister McIntosh and Foss Shanahan, George Laking and Frank Corner 1946-1966'' edited by Ian McGibbon (1999, Victoria University Press, WellingtonNZ) {{ISBN|0-86473-365-8}}

*''Undiplomatic Dialogue: Letters between Carl Berendsen and Alister McIntosh 1943-1952'' edited by Ian McGibbon (1993, Auckland University Press, AucklandNZ) {{ISBN|1-86940-095-X}}

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{{s-bef|before= [[Leslie Munro]]}}

{{s-ttl|title= [[List of Permanent Representatives of New Zealand to the United Nations in New York|Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York]] |years=1958–1962}}

{{s-aft|after = [[Frank Corner]]}}

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{{Authority control}}

[[Category:High commissioners of New Zealand to Canada]]

[[Category:Deaths from brain cancer in New Zealand]]

[[Category:People educated at Trinity Catholic College, Dunedin]]

[[Category:High commissioners of New Zealand to Singapore]]

[[Category:Ambassadors of New Zealand to Thailand]]

[[Category:High commissioners of New Zealand to Malaysia]]

[[Category:New Zealand Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George]]