Sir Sydney Philip Perigal Waterlow (22 October 1878,

New Barnet New Barnet is a neighbourhood on the north east side of the London Borough of Barnet. It is a largely residential North London suburb located east of Chipping Barnet, west of Cockfosters, south of the village of Monken Hadley and north of Oaklei ...

– 4 December 1944,

Oare, Wiltshire Oare is a small village in the east of the county of Wiltshire, England. The village lies about north of Pewsey, on the A345 road towards Marlborough, and falls within the civil parish of Wilcot, Huish and Oare. History Oare was anciently ...

) was a British diplomat, Ambassador to Greece from 1933 to 1939.

Life

Sydney Waterlow was the eldest son of George Sydney Waterlow – the fourth son of

Sir Sydney Waterlow, 1st Baronet Sir Sydney Hedley Waterlow, 1st Baronet, (1 November 1822 – 3 August 1906) was a British philanthropist and Liberal Party politician, principally remembered for donating Waterlow Park to the public as "a garden for the gardenless". Life He w ...

– and Charlotte Elizabeth Beauchamp. He was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, where he gained a first class in the Classics Tripos (B.A. 1900, M.A. 1905). Waterlow joined the Diplomatic Service in 1900. From 1900 to 1901 he served in the Eastern Department of the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

. He was an Attaché in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

in 1901, and Third Secretary from 1902 to 1905. Resigning from the Foreign Office, Waterlow left the Foreign Office to become a

University extension Continuing education (similar to further education in the United Kingdom and Ireland) is an all-encompassing term within a broad list of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada. ...

lecturer until the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, when he returned to the FO. He rose to be Acting First Secretary in 1919, and participated in the Paris Peace Conference. From 1922 to 1924 he was Director of the Foreign division of the Department of Overseas Trade, and from 1924 to 1926 he was a Counsellor in the Foreign Office. He was Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

from 1924 to 1926, in Addis from 1928 to 1929, in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

from 1929 to 1933, and in

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 ...

from 1933 to 1939. Waterlow was also an author, editor and translator of several literary and classical works. In 1920 he was appointed as a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

and in 1935 appointed 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, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honou ...

. Waterlow was also appointed to the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

. He died 4 December 1944 at Oare near Marlborough.

Family

Waterlow married twice. His first wedding was at

St Marylebone Parish Church St Marylebone Parish Church is an Anglican church on the Marylebone Road in London. It was built to the designs of Thomas Hardwick in 1813–17. The present site is the third used by the parish for its church. The first was further south, near Ox ...

in London on 19 November 1902 to Alice Isabella Pollock (1876–1953), the only daughter of

Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Baronet Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Baronet PC, FBA (10 December 1845 – 18 January 1937) was an English jurist best known for his ''History of English Law before the Time of Edward I'', written with F.W. Maitland, and his lifelong correspondence w ...

. The marriage was annulled in 1912. In 1911, he proposed unsuccessfully to

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

. In 1913 he remarried, to Helen Margery Eckhard, a daughter of Gustav Eckhard of

Didsbury Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there are ...

. There were three children from the second marriage.

Works

*'' Shelley'', 1900 *(tr. and ed.) ''The

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...

& Hippolytus'' of Euripides, 1906 *(ed.) ''In praise of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, an anthology in prose and verse'', 1912 *(tr. with

Desmond MacCarthy Sir Charles Otto Desmond MacCarthy FRSL (20 May 1877 – 7 June 1952) was a British writer and the foremost literary critic, literary and dramatic critic of his day. He was a member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, fro ...

) ''The Death of a Nobody'', by

Jules Romains Jules Romains (born Louis Henri Jean Farigoule; 26 August 1885 – 14 August 1972) was a French poet and writer and the founder of the Unanimism literary movement. His works include the play '' Knock ou le Triomphe de la médecine'', and a cycle ...

, 1913 *(ed. with Cora May Williams) ''The analysis of sensations, and the relation of the physical to the psychical'' by

Ernst Mach Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach ( , ; 18 February 1838 – 19 February 1916) was a Moravian-born Austrian physicist and philosopher, who contributed to the physics of shock waves. The ratio of one's speed to that of sound is named the Mach ...

, 1914 *''Memories of

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

'', 1926

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waterlow, Sydney Philip 1878 births 1944 deaths People from Chipping Barnet Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Greece Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Thailand Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Ethiopia Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Bulgaria People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Commanders of the Order of the British Empire