Sir James Beethom Whitehead (31 July 1858 – 19 September 1928) was a British diplomat, who was British Minister to Serbia 1906–1910.

Early life

Whitehead was the second son of the engineer

Robert Whitehead Robert Whitehead (3 January 1823 – 14 November 1905) was an English engineer who was most famous for developing the first effective self-propelled naval torpedo. Early life He was born in Bolton, England, the son of James Whitehead, ...

(1823–1905) by his wife Frances Maria Johnson (1821–1883). His elder sister, Alice, married Georg Anton, Count of Hoyos, and was the mother of Countess Marguerite (wife of

Herbert von Bismarck Nikolaus Heinrich Ferdinand Herbert, Prince of Bismarck (born Nikolaus Heinrich Ferdinand Herbert Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen; 28 December 1849 – 18 September 1904) was a German politician, who served as Foreign Secretary from 1886 to 1890. H ...

, eldest son of

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...

) and

Alexander, Count of Hoyos Ludwig Alexander Georg Graf von Hoyos, Freiherr zu Stichsenstein (13 May 1876 – 20 October 1937) was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat who played a major role during the July Crisis while serving as chef de cabinet of the Foreign Minister at the out ...

. His elder brother, John Whitehead, was the father of

Agathe Whitehead Agathe Gobertina von Trapp (née Whitehead; 14 June 1891 – 3 September 1922) was a British-Austrian heiress and aristocrat. She was the first wife of Georg von Trapp, Georg Ritter von Trapp and the mother of seven children of the Trapp Family, ...

(wife of Captain

Georg von Trapp Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp (4 April 1880 – 30 May 1947) was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Navy who later became the patriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. Trapp was the most successful Austro-Hungarian submarine commander of World W ...

and mother of seven children who were the inspiration behind the movie ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Se ...

''), and his younger brother, Robert Boville Whitehead also married and had issue. He was educated in Austria and at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

, where he earned a B.A. degree in 1881 and an M.A. degree in 1887.

Career

He entered the diplomatic service in 1881, was appointed Third Secretary in November 1883, and promoted to Second Secretary on 1 January 1887. On 1 October 1898, he was appointed Secretary of Legation at

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, in October 1901 he transferred as First Secretary of Legation at

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, and in August 1902 he was appointed Secretary at the embassy in

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 (" ...

. In December 1903, he transferred as First Secretary to the embassy in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, and on 1 April 1904 he was promoted to

Counselor Counselor or counsellor may refer to: A professional In diplomacy and government * Counsellor of State, senior member of the British royal family to whom the Monarch can delegate some functions in case of unavailability * Counselor (di ...

. He was appointed

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 ...

to the

Kingdom of Serbia The Kingdom of Serbia ( sr-cyr, Краљевина Србија, Kraljevina Srbija) was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Princi ...

in June 1906, serving as such until 1910. While in this position, he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

(KCMG) in the 1909 Birthday Honours list in June 1909. 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 ...

for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

Personal life

Whitehead married on 15 April 1896 the Hon. Marian Cecilia Brodrick (b.1869), youngest daughter of the

William Brodrick, 8th Viscount Midleton William Brodrick, 8th Viscount Midleton (6 January 1830 – 18 April 1907), was an Irish peer, landowner and Conservative politician in both Houses of Parliament, entering first the Commons for two years. Early life Midleton was born on 6 Januar ...

and Hon. Augusta Fremantle (a daughter of

Thomas Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe Thomas Francis Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe, 2nd Baron Fremantle, (11 March 1798 – 3 December 1890), known as Sir Thomas Fremantle, Bt, between 1821 and 1874, was a British Tory politician. Early life Cottesloe was the eldest son of A ...

). Marian's brother

St John Brodrick William St John Fremantle Brodrick, 1st Earl of Midleton, KP, PC, DL (14 December 185613 February 1942), styled as St John Brodrick until 1907 and as Viscount Midleton between 1907 and 1920, was a British Conservative and Irish Unionist Alli ...

, became the 1st Earl of Midleton Together, they lived at Efford Park,

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...

, and were the parents of: * George Robert Beethom Whitehead (1897–1981) * Augusta Alice Cecilia Whitehead (b. 1898) * John William St John Whitehead (1901–1984), stockbroker and pre-WWII amateur aviator.
Royal Aero Club Aviators’ Certificate: John William St John Whitehead * Frances Edith Marian Whitehead (1903–1992), who married Bowman baronets, Sir John Paget Bowman, 4th Baronet (1904–1994) * Sir Edgar Cuthbert Fremantle Whitehead (1905–1971), who became

Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia The prime minister of Rhodesia (Southern Rhodesia before 1964) was the head of government of Rhodesia. Rhodesia, which had become a self-governing colony of the United Kingdom in 1923, unilaterally declared independence on 11 November 1965, a ...

* Hugh Laurence James Whitehead (1908–1945) * Arthur Wilfred Alexander Whitehead (1911–1940) Sir James died on 19 September 1928. His widow died 28 April 1932.

References

External links

Portrait of Sir James Beethom Whitehead by John Henry Frederick Bacon
(1907 -

Government Art Collection The Government Art Collection (GAC) is the collection of artworks owned by the UK government and administered by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The GAC's artworks are used to decorate major government buildings in t ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehead, James Beethom 1858 births 1928 deaths Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Serbia English justices of the peace Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...