Baron de Staal Vanity Fair 5 December 1885

Baron Egor Egorovich Staal ( anglicised as Georges de Staal,''The London Gazette'', 28 October 1902, issue 27488, p. 6803 and francised as Georges Frédéric Charles de Staal;''Correspondance diplomatique de M. de Staal: 1884-1900'', 1929, p. 1 March 1822 – 22 February 1907) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

diplomat, who served as ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1884 to 1902.

Early life and family

Staal was born in March 1822 at

Reval Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ''m ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, the son of a land-owner. He was educated privately and then at the

University of Moscow M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

."Death of Baron De Staal", ''The Times'' (London, England), 25 February 1907 (issue 38265), p. 8 After the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

, he married a daughter of Prince Michael Gortschakoff. Their daughter Theela de Staal married in 1900 Count Alexis Orloff-Davidoff. Her son Lieutenant-Commander Serge Orloff-Davidoff served in the British Navy and was married to Hon. Elizabeth Scott-Ellis, daughter of

Thomas Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden Thomas Evelyn Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden, 4th Baron Seaford (9 May 1880 – 5 November 1946) was an English peer, landowner, writer and patron of the arts. Lord Howard de Walden was also a powerboat racer who competed for Great ...

Diplomatic service

Staal entered the Russian diplomatic service at the age of 23, when he joined the Asiatic Department. He was posted to

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

and was attached to Prince Michael Gortschakoff during the Crimean War. After the war, he was Consul-General at

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

until 1859, when he transferred to

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. In 1864, he became Conseiller d'Ambassade to Constantinople. In the 1870s and early 1880s, he was Minister at several German states, including Wuerttemberg, before being appointed Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1884. He declined an offer to be Foreign Minister for Russia in 1896, owing to poor health. He submitted his letters of recall as ambassador in October 1902. Shortly before his retirement,

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

received him in audience on 12 August 1902, and appointed him an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

(GCVO). On his return to Russia, Tsar Nicholas II appointed him a member of the Council of the Russian Empire, and a Knight of the

Order of St. Andrew The Order of St. Andrew the Apostle the First-Called (russian: Орден Святого апостола Андрея Первозванного, translit=Orden Svyatogo apostola Andreya Pervozvannogo) is the highest order conferred by both the ...

. He died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

on 22 February 1907.''National Probate Calendar'', 1908, p. 248

Legacy

At his death, the correspondent at ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' wrote "it may be said that he had a very distinguished but uneventful career, for he gained and held with distinction one of the highest posts in the Russian diplomatic service without having ever taken a decisive part in any negotiations of first-rate importance."

References

Citations

Bibliography