He retired in 1994 after a distinguished diplomatic career in which he was a leading light in John Major's extrication of the UK from its policy of confronting apartheid South Africa.
[1] After service in HM Forces from 1953 to 1955, he spent a short time living in Paris, before returning to the UK to work as a French and English teacher at Wilson's Grammar School in Camberwell, London, from 1967 - 1970, where he will be remembered.
He was appointed Counsellor and Head of Chancery UKDEL, MBFR Vienna in 1975.
He was appointed Head of Defence Department FCO in 1979, becoming Assistant Under-Secretary of State in 1981.
On 21 February 1996, he was created a life peer as Baron Gillmore of Thamesfield, of Putney in the London Borough of Wandsworth.