title: Nigel Wenban-Smith
text: # Nigel Wenban-Smith
  
  William Nigel Wenban-Smith CMG (born 1 September 1936) is a British former diplomat.
  
  ## Early life
  
  Wenban-Smith was the son of William Wenban-Smith, a colonial administrator who served in the former Nyasaland (now Malawi). He was educated at The King's School, Canterbury followed by King's College, Cambridge, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree. He spent his national service in the Royal Navy.
  
  ## Career
  
  After national service, Wenban-Smith became a Plebiscite Supervisory Officer in the Southern Cameroons (now Ambazonia) from 1960 to 1961. At the time, this region was deciding to join Nigeria or become part of Cameroon, and he had some difficulty in communicating the exact terms of federation with Cameroon to voters.
  
  He was then an Assistant Principal with the Commonwealth Relations Office - which would eventually be merged with the Foreign Office. Following diplomatic postings in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Ireland, and Belgium, he became Commissioner for the British Indian Ocean Territory (1982-1985) and then Deputy High Commissioner in Ottawa (1986-1989). In 1990 he was appointed High Commissioner to Malawi, succeeding Denis Osborne.
  
  In retirement he served as Chairman of the Friends of the Chagos Islands Association and later earned an MA from the University of Buckingham.
  
  Diplomatic posts :
  
  | Preceded byDenis Osborne | British High Commissioner to Malawi 1990-1993 | Succeeded byJohn Martin |
  | - | - | - |
  