Claude Stokes | |
---|---|
Born | Claude Bayfield Stokes 27 October 1875
Mussoorie,
North-Western Provinces, India |
Died | 7 December 1948 South Kensington, London, England | (aged 73)
Nationality | British |
Occupation(s) | Indian Army Officer and Diplomat |
British Vice Consul in Nice | |
In office 1931–1940 | |
British High Commissioner in Transcaucasia | |
In office 1920–1921 | |
Monarch | George V |
Prime Minister | David Lloyd George |
Preceded by | Oliver Wardrop |
Succeeded by | Position abolished due to the occupation of Georgia |
Colonel Claude Bayfield Stokes CIE DSO OBE (27 October 1875 – 7 December 1948) was an Indian Army officer and diplomat. [1] [2] He served in India and was an intelligence officer with Dunsterforce during the First World War.
Stokes was educated at St John's School, Leatherhead and Sandhurst. [3] He was commissioned into the East Kent Regiment on 28 September 1895 and served on the North West Frontier 1897–98. [4] He transferred to the Indian Army 7 October 1897 and in July 1900 he joined the 3rd Skinner's Horse, a unit of the Indian Army. [5] [4]
Stokes was appointed military attaché to Tehran from 1907 to 1911. During this period he supplied Edward Granville Browne with sensitive intelligence. [6] In 1908 he saved the life of Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda, the Iranian linguist and Hassan Taqizadeh (a subsequent President of Iran), when he allowed him to take refuge in the British Legation compound. [7] He commanded the first detachment of the British Army to go to Baku arriving on 4 August 1918. [5]
He was appointed British High Commissioner in Transcaucasia, based in the Georgian capital of Tiflis, from 1920 to 1921. [8]
He retired from the Indian Army 1 October 1922. [9]
From 1931 to 1940 he was British Vice consul in Nice, France. [8]
Stokes had married Olga Postovsky in Turkey in the early 1920s and they had a daughter. Stokes died at 22B Roland Gardens in South Kensington London on 7 December 1948. [10]