Sir Owen O'Malley

Sir Owen O'Malley at Rossyvera in 1970.

Sir Owen St Clair O'Malley KCMG (1887 - 1974) was a British diplomat. He was Minister to Hungary between 1939 and 1941 and  British ambassador to the Polish government in exile in London during World War II. From July 1945 until May 1947, he was Ambassador to Portugal. 

Owen O'Malley was born in Eastbourne, England, the son of Sir Edward Loughlin O'Malley and Lady Emma Winifred O'Malley. His grandfather, a descendant of the Belclare branch of the O'Malley family, had moved to England from Hawthorn Lodge, Castlebar. He was educated at Rugby School, Radley College and Magdalen College at the University of Oxford. He entered the Foreign Office in 1911. In 1913, on holiday in Scotland, O'Malley met Mary Ann Dolling Sanders (1889–1974), who later became a novelist using the pseudonym of Ann Bridge. They were married on 25 October 1913 and had two daughters and a son. Their daughter Jane became Secretary to the Royal Irish Academy.

In 1928 Owen O'Malley, with other members of the foreign service, was accused of speculating in francs: what became known as the francs case.  He was forced to resign. but a campaign led by his wife eventually persuaded the government to reinstate him. In Permission to Resign,: Goings-on in the Corridors of Power, Ann Bridge provides an account of that campaign. 

Owen served as British Minister to Budapest between May 1939 and April 1941. During this period, he helped British secret agents Andrzej Kowerski and Krystyna Skarbek escape Eastern Europe as German forces were advancing. He was appointed ambassador to the Polish government-in-exile in February 1943 and is particularly noted for his incisive report sent on 24 May 1943 to the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, on the Katyn Massacre indicating the likelihood of Soviet guilt and the moral issues raised.

Besides his report on Katyn, O'Malley was also critical of Churchill's role in acceding to Stalin's demands regarding the frontiers of Polish territory after the war. O'Malley raised questions about the British government's complicity in the annexation of another country's territory and whether "the basis of international law is to be law or an exhibition of power politics".

He was appointed a CMG in 1927 and a KCMG on his retirement in 1947.

Sir Owen had, like his father, maintained a strong interest in his O'Malley family history. On his retirement, he came to live at Rossyvera House,  Rockfleet, which is about four miles from Newport, Co. Mayo. He devoted much of his time to O'Malley genealogy and corresponded with various O'Malley relatives and connections in the course of his writings on the subject. His papers in the National Library of Ireland include detailed histories of his lineage back to ancient times and of various individuals in the family tree. 

Having refurbished and enlarged the house at Rossyvera, Sir Owen next turned his attention to the other habitation on his property, the beautifully situated tower house of Carraig an Chabhaigh (Carirgahowley) or Rockfleet Castle, which stands at the north eastern corner of Newport Bay. This structure had witnessed many stirring scenes, especially during the tenure of the turbulent Grace O'Malley, or Granuaile, as she is commonly called today. This fifteenth century castle had been the principal residence of Grainne after her second marriage to its owner, Riocard an Iarainn or Iron Dick Bourke, about the year 1566. She retired there after Richard's death with 'all her own followers and with 1,000 head of cows and mares'. This memory-haunted castle was in a sad state of disrepair when it came into Sir Owen's ownership. He had spent many years researching and writing his family history, and felt he owed it to his ancestors to restore a building which had such strong associations with the O'Malley clan. He soon discovered there were others who shared his dream, and foremost among them were John J. O'Malley of Westport and Prof Conor O'Malley of Galway. Together, they formed a committee to raise funds for the restoration of the property, which led to the formation of the O'Malley Clan Association at the opening of the restored castle in September 1953.

Sir Owen O'Malley died on 16 April 1974 at 27 Charlbury Road, Oxford, five weeks after the death of his wife.