Sir George Hugh Wyndham (18 November 1836 – 10 February 1916) was a British diplomat who was minister to Serbia, Brazil and Romania.

Career

George Hugh Wyndham was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

and

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth-oldest college of the un ...

and entered the

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to ...

in 1857. He accompanied Sir Frederick Bruce to China in 1859 and stayed there for two years. He then served as consul-general at

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

and subsequently as Secretary of the legations or embassies at

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 ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and

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 (" ...

(where in 1883 it fell to him, as

Chargé d'Affaires A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...

to the

Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. History The nam ...

, to sign a declaration amending the convention for the suppression of the slave trade that had been agreed between the UK government and the

Sultan of Turkey Sultan of Turkey may refer to: * List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire The sultans of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı padişahları), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the transcontinental empire from ...

in 1880). Wyndham was promoted to be

Minister Resident A resident minister, or resident for short, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of indir ...

to the King of

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

in 1885 and upgraded to

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary An envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, usually known as a minister, was a diplomatic head of mission who was ranked below ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy was known as a legation rather than an embassy. Under the ...

in the following year. In 1888 he was moved to be minister to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and remained there until mid-1894. During this period he witnessed a bloodless military coup in November 1889 that overthrew the

Empire of Brazil The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and (until 1828) Uruguay. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom Pe ...

, exiled the last Emperor, Pedro II and established a republic. However, British citizens and property in Brazil were not at risk and although Britain did not yet recognise the new republic, Wyndham remained in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

maintaining unofficial relations with the new government until December 1890 when he returned to England on "leave of absence" until May 1891 when the UK government established full diplomatic relations with the provisional government of the

United States of Brazil The First Brazilian Republic, also referred to as the Old Republic ( pt, República Velha ), officially the Republic of the United States of Brazil, refers to the period of Brazilian history from 1889 to 1930. The Old Republic began with the de ...

. Wyndham was still at Rio when the second

Brazilian Naval Revolt The Brazilian Naval Revolts, or the Revoltas da Armada (in Portuguese), were armed mutinies promoted mainly by admirals Custódio José de Melo and Saldanha da Gama and their fleet of rebel Brazilian navy ships against the claimed unconstituti ...

broke out in September 1893. During the six-month revolt Wyndham and the US ambassador,

Thomas L. Thompson Thomas L. Thompson (born January 7, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American-born Danish biblical scholar and theologian. He was professor of theology at the University of Copenhagen from 1993 to 2009. He currently lives in Denmark. Thompson is ...

, generally maintained British and American neutrality although the presence of Royal Navy and US Navy warships prevented the rebels from achieving a blockade of Rio harbour. In September 1894 Wyndham was given his final appointment as Minister to

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

at Bucharest. He retired from the Diplomatic Service in 1897 and returned to his family's estate at

Rogate Rogate is a village and civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, in the Western Rother valley. The village is on the A272 road west of Midhurst and east of Petersfield, Hampshire. The civil parish includes the villages o ...

, Sussex, where among other things he was a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

, and died there in 1916. Hugh Wyndham was appointed CB in 1878 for his services in Athens during the

Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 ( tr, 93 Harbi, lit=War of ’93, named for the year 1293 in the Islamic calendar; russian: Русско-турецкая война, Russko-turetskaya voyna, "Russian–Turkish war") was a conflict between th ...

and knighted

KCMG KCMG may refer to * KC Motorgroup, based in Hong Kong, China * Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, British honour * KCMG-LP, radio station in New Mexico, USA * KCMG, callsign 1997-2001 of Los Angeles radio station KKLQ (FM) ...

in 1894 for his work in Brazil.

Family

Hugh Wyndham was a son of Charles Wyndham, an illegitimate son of

George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

. In 1863 Hugh Wyndham married his cousin, Charlotte Scott. Their elder son

Percy Charles Hugh Wyndham Percy Charles Hugh Wyndham (born 23 September 1864;died 6 Oct. 1943), was a senior British diplomat. The son of Sir Hugh Wyndham, Wyndham was educated at Eton and New College, Oxford and entered the Diplomatic Service in 1890. He served at Berlin ...

became a diplomat, minister and knight in his turn.

References

WYNDHAM, Sir (George) Hugh)
Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007, accessed 4 June 2012 *Death of Sir H. Wyndham, ''The Times'', 12 February 1916, page 9 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wyndham, Hugh 1836 births 1916 deaths

Hugh Hugh may refer to: *Hugh (given name) Noblemen and clergy French * Hugh the Great (died 956), Duke of the Franks * Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France under his father, Robert II * Hugh, Duke of Alsace (died 895), modern-day ...

People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Serbia Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Brazil Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Romania Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Companions of the Order of the Bath