Laurence Collier

Sir Laurence Collier KCMG (1890–1976) was the British ambassador to Norway between 1939 and 1950, including the period when Norway's government was in exile in London during the Second World War. Biography Laurence Collier was the son of the artist John Collier and his second wife Ethel Huxley, the daughter of Thomas Huxley. His paternal grandfather was Robert Collier, 1st Baron Monkswell. He was born on 13 June 1890, at 4 Marlborough Place, Marylebone, London; and educated at Bedales School in Hampshire, and Balliol College, Oxford. He married Eleanor Watson on 31 May 1917 at St. Paul's Church, Hampstead; they had one son, William, b. 26 Nov 1919. His diplomatic career included postings in Tokyo 1919–21 before returning to the Foreign Office in London, where he was Head of the Northern section, monitoring German actions towards Scandinavia. In 1940, he advised the UK Government that they should intervene against the German invasion of Norway.