Reginald Leeper

Who was Reginald Leeper?

Sir Reginald Wildig Allen Leeper GBE KCMG was a British civil servant and diplomat. He was the founder of the British Council.

Born in Sydney, Australia, Leeper was educated at Melbourne Grammar School, Melbourne's Trinity College, and New College, Oxford.

Leeper was the son of Dr Alexander Leeper, the first Warden of Trinity College, the University of Melbourne, and his wife Adeline. His half-sister, Valentine Leeper, maintained a lifelong correspondence with him.

Rex Leeper began his government career at the Intelligence Bureau of the Department of Information during the First World War and served briefly at the Political Intelligence Department.

He became head of Britain's Political Intelligence Department when it reformed in 1938.

He was British ambassador to the Greek government from 1943 to 1946, and British ambassador to Argentina from 1946 to 1948. In his former post, he played a critical role in inter-Greek political developments of 1944, especially in support of the Greek monarchy in the person of King George II of Greece. After Greece's liberation, Leeper continued to be one of the major power brokers during his tenure, which included the early stages of the Greek Civil War.