Sir Joseph Addison KCMG (1879 – 24 November 1953) was a British ambassador to the Baltic States, and to Czechoslovakia during the rise of Nazi Germany.
He entered the Foreign Office (FO) in 1903 and was assistant secretary at the Second Hague Conference in 1907 before being posted to Peking 1908–10.
He was Private Secretary to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Thomas McKinnon Wood then Francis Dyke Acland) 1911–13.
[2] The Times obituary said "For the next six years he held this important position and did much to foster good relations with the Czechoslovak government, especially after the seizure of power by the Nazis in Germany in 1933.
"[3] However, a historian of the period claims that Addison "made virtually no attempt to conceal his contempt for his hosts" and was "very much responsible for cultivating a negative view of the Czechs and their country in British official circles"[4] and that he "disliked Edvard Beneš [Czech Foreign Minister, later President] with considerable passion and took delight in embarrassing him in his reports from Prague.