Chatham House in the context of "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"

Arnold Joseph Toynbee CH FBA (/ˈtɔɪnbi/; 14 April 1889 – 22 October 1975) was an English historian, a philosopher of history, an author of numerous books and a research professor of international history at the London School of Economics and King's College London. From 1918 to 1950, Toynbee was considered a leading specialist on international affairs; from 1929 to 1956 he was the Director of Studies at Chatham House, in which position he also produced 34 volumes of the Survey of International Affairs, a "bible" for international specialists in Britain.

He is best known for his 12-volume A Study of History (1934–1961). With his prodigious output of papers, articles, speeches and presentations, and numerous books translated into many languages, Toynbee was widely read and discussed in the 1940s and 1950s.

Terence James O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of Gatley (born 17 March 1957) is a British economist best known for coining BRIC, the acronym that stands for Brazil, Russia, India, and China—the four once-rapidly developing countries that he predicted would challenge the global economic power of the developed G7 economies. He is also a former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and former Conservative government minister.

O'Neill was Commercial Secretary to the Treasury in the Second Cameron Ministry from May 2015 to September 2016. He chaired the UK's Independent Review into Antimicrobial Resistance from 2014 to 2016. He was the chairman of the Council of Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs from 2018 to 2021.

Under the Chatham House Rule, anyone who comes to a meeting is free to use information from the discussion, but is not allowed to reveal who made any particular comment. It is designed to increase openness of discussion. The rule is a system for holding debates and discussion panels on controversial topics, named after the London headquarters of the Chatham House, where the rule originated in June 1927.

St James's Square is the only square in the St James's district of the City of Westminster and is a garden square. It has predominantly Georgian and Neo-Georgian architecture. For its first two hundred or so years it was one of the three or four most fashionable residential streets in London. It now has headquarters of a number of well-known businesses, including BP and Rio Tinto Group; four private members' clubs, the East India Club, the Naval and Military Club, the Canning Club, and the Army and Navy Club; the High Commission of Cyprus; the London Library; and global think tank and peace-promoter Chatham House.

A main feature is a high, stone-plinthed equestrian statue of William III erected in 1808.

Elie Kedourie CBE FBA (25 January 1926, Baghdad – 29 June 1992, Washington) was a British historian of the Middle East. He wrote from a perspective that dissented from many points of view taken as orthodox in the field. From 1953 to 1990, he taught at the London School of Economics, where he became Professor of Politics. Kedourie was famous for his rejection of what he called the "Chatham House version" of history, which viewed the story of the modern Middle East as one of continuous victimisation at the hands of the West, and instead castigated left-wing Western intellectuals for what he regarded as a naively romantic view of Islam.

Sir John Vincent Cable (born 9 May 1943) is a British politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham from 1997 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2019. He also served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade from 2010 to 2015.

Cable studied natural science and economics at Cambridge, and after graduation was an ODI Fellow working as a finance officer in the Kenya Treasury under President Jomo Kenyatta. He then lectured in economics at Glasgow University and obtained a PhD studying part-time. He worked in the Diplomatic Service; directed research at the ODI; was a Special Adviser to the Commonwealth Secretary-General; headed the international economics programme at Chatham House; and worked for Shell Group Planning, becoming Chief Economist.

The High Commission of Cyprus is the diplomatic mission of Cyprus in the United Kingdom. It is located at 13 St James's Square, next door to the London Library and very close to Chatham House.

In 2012 there was a small protest outside the High Commission by people claiming to have been mis-sold property on the island.