Ragnar Numelin

At the start of the First World War, Numelin became involved in the Finnish activist movement, which sought to detach Finland from Russia by armed means if necessary. He took part in the founding meeting of the Jäger Movement in November 1914, and from 1916 worked within the foreign delegation of the Finnish independence movement in Stockholm. After Finland's declaration of independence he was among the first persons sent on diplomatic assignments to Sweden.^[1] He was also an assistant at the University of Helsinki Library from 1914 to 1918.^[2] In 1918 he married Mary Adèle Alfthan, daughter of Max Theodor Alfthan, governor of the Province of Uusimaa.^[1]

After completing his doctorate, Numelin committed to a diplomatic career and served in the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs for 35 years. During the Winter War and the early stage of the Continuation War he was responsible for Finland's foreign information service; the German press attaché in Finland at the time, Hans Metzger, later recalled in his memoirs that Numelin was nicknamed "Sir Ragnar".^[1] In 1945 he was appointed Consul General in Gothenburg, moving from the post of deputy head of the Foreign Ministry's political department. The transfer was understood at the time as a form of internal exile, in a period when the Finnish political left sought to place its own people in central positions within the foreign service. He nevertheless became head of mission in Brussels in 1947 and in Prague in 1950.^[1]

Numelin had been posted to Prague against his wishes, and his Western orientation led him to sharply criticise the country's then-current political system. After criticism from home, ultimately rooted in the Finnish communists' wish to install one of their own as envoy, he was recalled in 1953 and placed on inactive duty, receiving no further postings. According to "Ragnar Numelin". Biografiskt lexikon för Finland (in Swedish). Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. urn:NBN:fi:sls-4411-1416928957017., his standing as a diplomat was held back by his versatility – his scholarly work was felt to detract from his official duties – as well as by his well-known activist background and Western orientation.^[1]

Numelin published widely on diplomacy, sociology, ethnology, geography and graphology.^[2] His doctoral research on migration shaped his later work, notably The Wandering Spirit (1936). His most influential book, The Beginnings of Diplomacy (1950), was translated into several languages and remains his best-known work in English-language scholarship.^{[1][3][4][5][6]}