John Larkindale
New Zealand public servant and diplomat
John Peter Larkindale (born 1946) is a New Zealand former public servant and diplomat, whose overseas postings including ambassador to the Russian Federation and high commissioner to Australia.
Biography
Larkindale was born in Wellington in 1946, to Robert and Liesel, Jewish migrants from Germany. Larkindale was educated at Wellington College. He then studied chemistry at Victoria University of Wellington, graduating BSc and then MSc(Hons). His 1968 master's thesis, supervised by Alan Freeman, was titled Some intercalation compounds of boron nitride. Larkindale was awarded an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship, and he went on to complete a PhD at McGill University in Canada in 1971. His doctoral thesis, supervised by David J. Simkin, was titled Spectroscopic and theoretical studies of charge-transfer complexes.
Larkindale joined the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1972, and had postings to New Zealand's embassies in Vienna and Washington. He then served as the director of Pacific aid, based in Wellington and, later, Tokelau official secretary. Subsequently, he was the deputy head of mission in Beijing and then London.
The public source identifies “John Larkindale” as new Zealand public servant and diplomat. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around John, Larkindale and Zealand.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “John Larkindale”, the useful work is to connect “new Zealand public servant and diplomat” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q29412983. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1946, 1968, 1851 and 1971.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “John Larkindale”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow John Larkindale primary sources, John Larkindale archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John Larkindale”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “John Larkindale” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.