Sir John Gilbert Laithwaite GCMG KCB KCIE CSI (5 July 1894 – 21 December 1986) was a British civil servant and diplomat, born and raised in Ireland.
[3] In the First World War, Laithwaite served in the British army in France as a second lieutenant with the 10th Lancashire Fusiliers.
In 1971 he published an account of part of his war experience entitled 21 March 1918: Memories of an Infantry Officer.
In 1947 he took part in London talks on Burmese independence, also attended by Stafford Cripps and Aung San.
[7] He reached the apex of his career as Permanent Secretary at the Commonwealth Relations Office from 1955 to 1959, visiting Australia and New Zealand.