Sir Harry Fagg Batterbee, KCVO (1927) GCMG (1946), was born on the 1 January 1880 and educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Faversham, and Hertford College, Oxford (he received an Honorary Fellowship from the College in 1956).
Batterbee entered the Colonial Office in 1905 and served as Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1916-1919), and as Political Secretary to the Vice Admiral commanding the Special Service Squadron, Empire Cruise (1923-1924).
Between 1925 and 1938 Batterbee worked in the Dominions Office as Assistant Secretary (1925-1930) and Assistant Under Secretary of State (1930-1938). During this time he also served as Political Secretary to the Duke of York during his tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1927, and was Deputy Secretary to the Imperial Conferences in 1930 and 1937. In 1939 Batterbee was appointed as the first British High Commissioner to New Zealand (1939-1945). He was a Governor of the London House Trust, and of Queen Elizabeth's School in Faversham, and was Vice-President of the Royal Commonwealth Society. He was also Registrar of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (1930-1938). Batterbee died on the 25 August 1976.
From the guide to the Transcripts of Speeches by Sir Harry Fagg Batterbee, 1939-1945, (The Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House)
