Charles Stewart Almon Ritchie was a Canadian diplomat and diarist. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Ritchie was educated at University of King’s College, Pembroke College, Oxford, Harvard University, and Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques. He joined the Department of External Affairs in 1934 eventually becoming Canada’s ambassador to West Germany (1954-1958), Permanent Representative to the United Nations (1958-1962), ambassador to the United States during the presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson (1962-1966), ambassador to the North Atlantic Council(1966-1967) and from 1967 to 1971 was Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in London. While Ritchie's career as a diplomat marked him as an important person in the history of Canadian foreign relations, he became famous through the publication of his diaries, first The Siren Years, and then three follow-ups. The diaries document both his diplomatic career and his private life, including the beginning of his long love affair with the Anglo-Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen, which began in 1941 when he was still single and she married, survived through his marriage in 1948 and long periods of separation, lasting until Bowen's death in 1973. In 1969 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada "for services in the field of diplomacy". He received honorary doctorates from Trent University (1976), York University (1992) and Carleton University (1992). Ritchie came from a long-prominent family in Nova Scotia. His brother, Roland Ritchie, continuing a family tradition in the law, was a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.
Published
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto
Consists of holograph notebooks, correspondence, typescript diary drafts, photographs, other writings and various material
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/stack-retrieval-form.
Published
Consists of 82 holograph diaries, spanning Ritchie's life from 1940 to 1994.
Gift of Judith Robertson, 2011
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/stack-retrieval-request
https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/sites/fisher.library.utoronto.ca/files/finding_aids/ritchie626.pdf
Published
Includes extensive early personal correspondence between Charles Ritchie and his mother; his brother Roland “Roley” Ritchie; his uncle Charles Stewart; Anne Maher; typescript diary drafts, 1971-1994 for publication; old family and personal photographs; other writings and various material related to his life and work
Gift of Judith Robinson, 2016
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/stack-retrieval-form.
Published
This third accession of Judith Robertson’s papers is made up of two major components: material relating to the life and work of Canadian diplomat Charles Ritchie, and material relating to Robertson’s family, and to her own work. The Charles Ritchie material includes some of his original correspondence with his niece, Elizabeth Ritchie, along with extensive diary entries (1920-1973), made while he was working abroad with the Canadian Department of External Affairs. This collection also contains a number of original photographs from the same period, featuring numerous noteworthy Canadians, along with material relating to Ritchie’s literary estate. Also included are a number of books and periodicals owned by Ritchie, as well as a number of Irish novelist Elizabeth Bowen’s published works, inscribed to Ritchie by Bowen.
The material relating to Judith Robertson revolves mainly around her work as the executor of Charles Ritchie’s literary estate, as well as around her role as co-editor of the work Love's Civil War: Elizabeth Bowen and Charles Ritchie (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2008). In addition, this collection includes correspondence and documents kept by Norman A. Robertson, Judith Robertson’s father, who also worked as a diplomat in the Department of External Affairs with Charles Ritchie.
Contains Series:
Charles Ritchie Material:
1. Correspondence
2. Diaries
3. Writing and original documents
4. Photographs
5. Charles Ritchie’s literary estate
6. Miscellaneous material
7. Books and periodicals
Judith Robertson Material:
8. Love’s Civil War
9. Material relating to Norman A. Robertson [Judith Robertson’s father]
10. Oversized material
Gift of Judith Robertson, 2017.
No restrictions on access.
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/stack-retrieval-request
https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/sites/fisher.library.utoronto.ca/files/finding_aids/robertsonj181a.pdf