John Loudon (politician)

Jonkheer John Loudon (18 March 1866, The Hague – 11 November 1955, Wassenaar) was a Dutch top diplomat and politician who was Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs during the First World War. John Loudon was a moderate liberal.

He was born on 18 March 1866 to James Loudon, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1872 to 1875. Loudon Jr. obtained a doctorate in public international law at Leiden University in 1890. From 1901 to 1913 he was diplomat in Peking, London, Paris, Tokyo and, for the last five years, Washington DC.

From September 1913 to September 1918 he was Minister of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Cort van der Linden. His careful policies, aimed to keep the Netherlands strictly neutral during the war (although personally he was pro-French), eventually lead to conflicts with the Queen. The cabinet however was on his side. After the war he became once more diplomat in Paris.

He died on 11 November 1955.

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  Médaille John Loudon (1866-1955) ambassadeur des Pays-Bas à Paris de 1919 à 1940 (recto)]]

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  Médaille John Loudon (1866-1955) ambassadeur des Pays-Bas à Paris de 1919 à 1940 (verso)]]