A brief biography of Ranald Boyle (Tim Atiep)

Tim Atiep (Ranald Boyle) 1921-1999

Tim Atiep's career began in the RNVR, when he spent his 21st birthday on HMS Calpe, the headquarters ship, on the Dieppe raid, in 1942. Calpe was the last ship to head for home and had endured the attention of all the shore batteries and aerial bombardment, whilst she picked up wounded soldiers from the water. It was then that she was attacked by a fighter and Tim Atiep was severely wounded in the head. Following his recovery he was sent to the Mediterranean and served on MTBs on clandestine operations, landing and picking up agents from enemy territory. It was after one of these operations that he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for "gallantry, enterprise, and undaunted devotion to duty on hazardous operations". After the war ended, he joined the Sudan Political Service and was District Commissioner in Gogrial, Bahr el-Ghazal until 1953, when he resigned in protest over British government failures to provide the promised safeguards for the people of the Southern Sudan when Sudan was granted independence. Tim Atiep had gained the respect of the people, not least because he had made the effort to learn their customs and language and could even write letters to the chiefs in their own language. In 1994, when he visited Akon as a consultant for the Save the Children Fund (SCF), the welcome he received was enormous, with young and old alike keen to shake his hand.

After a spell as a freelance journalist and as a Political Liaison Officer for the Iraq Petroleum Company, he joined the Overseas Civil Service and was sent out to Kenya, where he served until Kenya gained her independence in 1963/4. On leaving Kenya, Tim Atiep joined the Diplomatic Service as First Secretary and served as Political Agent in Qatar in the Arabian Gulf for 5 years, and as Head of Chancery in Sudan. At the beginning of the 70's he found his knowledge and experience of Middle Eastern affairs in demand and joined Hambro's Bank in London and after more than 10 years in these financial circles and in order to avoid retirement, he set up as a consultant.

Obituaries
Daily Express Article

Tim Atiep was also an accomplished linguist and a man of strong principles who was not afraid to speak his mind. Indeed the two occasions he resigned from his employment were both concerning the failures of British policy in the Sudan. He was a tireless campaigner for Sudan, often writing letters to the Times (several of which were published) and to members of the Government, particularly the Foreign Office and it is believed by some that he, almost single handedly, kept the plight of Sudan on the Foreign Office agenda in recent years. In 1998, coinciding with the centenary of the Battle of Omdurman, he wrote this article which was published in the Daily Express (September 3rd), in which, in concluding, he called for Britain to take the lead in the international arena in order to find some solution for the people of Sudan, both North and South. He spent much more of his time in his last years seeking ways of drawing attention to a largely forgotten situation and even conducted his own mission to Khartoum on one occasion.

The above is taken from an Obituary which appeared in the local newspaper The Largs and Millport Weekly News.

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