Sir George Rumbold, 2nd Baronet (17 August 1764 – 15 December 1807) was a British diplomat who was ambassador to the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...

Early life

George Berriman Rumbold was born in

Fort William, India Fort William is a fort in Hastings, Calcutta (Kolkata). It was built during the early years of the Bengal Presidency of British India. It sits on the eastern banks of the Hooghly River, the major distributary of the River Ganges. One of Kolkat ...

, where his father Thomas Rumbold worked for the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

. Berriman was his mother's maiden name. He was educated privately and at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

Career

He joined 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 ...

and in 1803 was appointed ambassador to the

Hanse Towns The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label= Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German tow ...

, minister-resident of Great Britain at

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

(at that time a "free city"), and

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 Circle of Lower Saxony. On the night of 24 October 1804 Rumbold was abducted by French troops on the pretext that British Ministers on the Continent had conspired against France.

Joseph Fouché Joseph Fouché, 1st Duc d'Otrante, 1st Comte Fouché (, 21 May 1759 – 25 December 1820) was a French statesman, revolutionary, and Minister of Police under First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, who later became a subordinate of Emperor Napoleon. He ...

, the Minister of Police in Paris, had sent an order in the name of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

Marshal Bernadotte sv, Karl Johan Baptist Julius , spouse = , issue = Oscar I of Sweden , house = Bernadotte , father = Henri Bernadotte , mother = Jeanne de Saint-Jean , birth_date = , birth_place = Pau, ...

commanding French occupation troops in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. A detachment of 250 French troops embarked in boats at Harburg, in Hanoverian territory. They crossed the river Elbe, landed on the Hamburg side, proceeded to Rumbold's residence, forced the door, and compelled him to deliver up his papers. He was then taken to Hanover in a guarded coach, thence to Paris, and confined in the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

. 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 ...

great indignation was expressed and the

King of Prussia The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...

, as Protector of the Circle of Lower Saxony and guardian of the free cities, ordered his minister at Paris to demand Rumbold's release. The next day, on the orders of

, he was conveyed to

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

and put on board a French cutter, sailing under flag of truce, which delivered him to the British frigate ''Niobe'', in which he arrived at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. The papers seized at Hamburg remain in the Archives nationales in Paris and reveal no conspiracy.A.W. Ward &

G. P. Gooch George Peabody Gooch (21 October 1873 – 31 August 1968) was a British journalist, historian and Liberal Party politician. A follower of Lord Acton who was independently wealthy, he never held an academic position, but knew the work of histo ...

(ed.
''The Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy, 1783–1919''
(Cambridge, 1922), page 333 Rumbold returned to Hamburg where he was replaced in 1806. He died of fever at Memel on 15 December 1807.

Family

George Rumbold's father was made a baronet in the 1770s. George was the second son, but his elder brother died before his father, so George inherited the baronetcy on his father's death in 1791. In 1783 he had married Caroline Hearn, who became Lady Rumbold; their elder son William became the 3rd Baronet in 1807. In 1809 Lady Rumbold married

Sir Sidney Smith Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith (21 June 176426 May 1840) was a British naval and intelligence officer. Serving in the American and French revolutionary wars and Napoleonic Wars, he rose to the rank of Admiral. Smith was known for his of ...

References

* *G.LeG. Norgate
Rumbold, Sir George Berriman, second baronet (1764–1807)
rev. H.C.G. Matthew, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rumbold, George Berriman 1764 births 1807 deaths Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain Ambassadors of the United Kingdom 19th-century British diplomats 19th century in Hamburg