1951 Archibald Kerr Clark
I’ve been extensively investigating the history of Crossbasket Castle lately, and uncovered something of particular interest. The child of former Crossbasket owner James Kerr Clark was responsible for bringing Stalin to Churchill’s table in WW2!!
“Lord Inverchapel, the man who made diplomatic history by persuading Stalin to dine at the British Embassy during the war, died in 1951 at Greenock. He was 69.
Formerly Sir Archibald Clark Kerr, he was created a Baron in 1946, and assumed the title Lord Inverchapel of Loch Eck. It was on the shore of this Argyllshire loch that he acquired a 2000-acre farm when he retired. One of his hobbies was fishing. Lord Inverchapel died in Greenock’s Larkfield Hospital, where he was admitted several days ago. He first met Marshal Stalin during an air raid on Moscow.
He always campaigned ardently for close British-Russian friendship. In 1946 Lord Inverchapel succeeded Lord Halifax as British Ambassador in Washington, a post he held until 1948. He was Ambassador to China from 1937 to 1942, when he moved to Moscow. In 1929 he married the beautiful Maria Teresa Diaz Salas. of Santiago. The marriage was dissolved in 1945, but they remarried in 1948 and settled at Loch Eck-side. The fifth son of John Kerr Clark, of Crossbasket,’ Blantyre, Lanarkshire. Lord Inverchapel spent a lifetime in the Diplomatic and Foreign Office service.”