Clare Ford

Sir Francis Clare Ford GCB GCMG PC (4 June 1828[1] – 31 January 1899) was an English diplomat from London.

However, he left the army in 1851, entered the diplomatic service, and became Secretary of Legation at Washington, D.C., where he was acting chargé d'affaires in 1867–1868.

Ford was afterward appointed to similar posts at Rio de Janeiro and at Athens.

In 1884 he became Minister (from 1887 Ambassador) to Spain; there, he acted as British commissioner in Paris in 1884 and 1885 to settle the Newfoundland fisheries question.

His services to British diplomacy won for him frequent official recognition, including appointment to the Privy Council in 1888.