The Fellows of Pembroke College, Cambridge announced last night that Sir Richard Dearlove KCMG OBE MA has been elected to the Mastership of the College, with effect from 1 August 2004.

Sir Richard is currently the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, more commonly known as MI6. He was appointed Chief (known as ‘C’) of SIS in August 1999 and is due to step down after his five-year term of duty is completed, in August of next year.

He joined SIS in 1966, having graduated from Queens' College Cambridge. Postings have included Nairobi, Prague, Paris, Geneva and Washington. In 1993, he became Director of Personnel and Administration. He became Director of Operations in 1994 and Assistant Chief of SIS in 1998. He succeeded Sir David Spedding as ‘C’ in September 1999. He was awarded the OBE in 1984.

He will be taking over from the current Master, Sir Roger Tomkys, who has been Master since 1992 and is retiring at the end of July 2004.

The Master is Head of the House, and as such is first amongst the Fellows. He or she has an important role in the life and progress of the College, and of all its members. The precise duties vary in detail between colleges, but are essentially similar throughout Cambridge, and are defined by each college's statutes. In Pembroke, the Master "shall have general authority over the Fellows, Scholars, and other members of the College". He or she presides over meetings of the Governing Body, made up of the Fellows, with student observers for many items of business, and makes formal decisions on a wide range of issues.

Pembroke is the third oldest college in Cambridge. It was founded in 1347 by the Countess of Pembroke, Marie de St Pol, who gave the nucleus of the present site and an endowment.

Pembroke College has a long and distinguished history. Its poets and politicians, its mathematics and its music, have won the College a reputation for many distinctions over the years. Pembroke is also well known for relaxed but disciplined achievement, in academic life and beyond. Pembroke today is committed to building on those traditions of diversity in excellence.

Sir Richard will be continuing in his position as Chief of SIS until August 2004. It is the policy of SIS that none of its serving staff (including Chiefs of Service) give interviews, make public appearances or provide on-the-record comments. Sir Richard has no intention of deviating from this practice.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.