Paul Scott Rankine

Paul Scott Rankine (1909-1983) was a British civil servant and then a diplomat. He served as a British propagandist in the 1939-45 war with the British Information Services in New York and Washington and was then appointed to head the Reuters bureau in Washington. He latterly advised a succession of British Ambassadors.

According to an obituary in the Washington Post:

Paul Scott Rankine, 74, a retired private adviser to several British ambassadors in Washington and a former chief of the Reuter news agency bureau here, died of congestive heart failure Feb. 11 at Georgetown University Hospital. Mr. Rankine, who lived in Washington, was born in England and graduated from Oxford University. He first came to Washington in the late 1930s as an official of the British Ministry of Health. During World War II, he worked for the British Information Service in New York and Washington. In 1944, he was appointed chief of the Reuters bureau. He held that post until 1956, when he became a private adviser to Sir Harold Caccia, the British ambassador at that time. He continued as an aide to ambassadors until he retired in the early 1970s.

Mr. Rankine was an officer of the Order of the British Empire. He was a member of the National Press Club and the English-Speaking Union and was active in the annual Oxford-Cambridge dinners here. His marriage to Elvine Richard ended in divorce. Survivors include a son, David Scott Rankine of Anchorage.