Edgar Vincent, 1st Viscount D'Abernon, (19 August 1857 – 1 November 1941) was a British politician, diplomat, art collector and author. He played an important role in the negotiations behind the 1925 Locarno Pact between Germany and its neighbours.

Early life

Vincent was born at Slinfold, West Sussex on 19 August 1857. He was the youngest son of Sir Frederick Vincent, 11th Baronet of Stoke D'Abernon (1798–1883) and, his second wife, Maria Copley (d. 1899).Richard Davenport-Hines,
Vincent, Edgar, Viscount D'Abernon (1857–1941)
, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008, accessed 10 July 2011. Among his older siblings were brothers Sir William Vincent, 12th Baronet and Sir Frederick d'Abernon Vincent, 15th Baronet, whom he succeeded as 16th Baronet in 1936. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

for the diplomatic service. Instead, he spent five years as a member of the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...

before coming into the service as secretary to Lord Edmond FitzMaurice, Queen's Commissioner on the East Rumelian Question.

Career

Vincent was appointed Commissioner for the Evacuation of

Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...

(ceded to Greece by Turkey) and advised the Egyptian government on financial matters from 1883 to 1889. That year, he became governor of the Imperial Ottoman Bank. One of his policies was to get the Bank involved in South African mining shares on European stock exchanges. This caused a speculation craze in Constantinople where tens of thousands of people bought South African mining shares, a lot of them with money loaned from the Ottoman Bank. This led to a run on the Bank in late 1895 and then a crash in the share values, followed by an international panic and the financial ruin of many of those who invested in the shares. Vincent, who personally made a fortune from the shares, was heavily condemned for his role in the disaster. In 1896, the banking office in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

was occupied by a group of armed Armenians who threatened to destroy the building with bombs. Vincent escaped through a skylight and notified the Turkish authorities at the Sublime Porte and secured a negotiator from the Russian Embassy. The attackers agreed to surrender their bombs in exchange for safe passage to exile in France, being conducted on Sir Edgar's private vessel.

Member of Parliament

In 1899, he was elected a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Member of Parliament for

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

. He was less a true Conservative than a personal devotee of the Conservative leader, A. J. Balfour. He held the seat until losing to a Liberal in

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

. He opposed the Conservative policy of

Tariff Reform Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

and unsuccessfully stood for the Liberal Party in Colchester in December 1910. In July 1914 he was raised to the peerage as Baron D'Abernon of Esher, Surrey, upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister,

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928) was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. He was the last ...

Poland

D'Abernon was part of the Interallied Mission to Poland in July 1920, during the Polish-Soviet War. Later this experience provided material for his book ''The Eighteenth Decisive Battle of the World: Warsaw, 1920'' (1931).

Ambassador to Germany

From 1920 to 1925, D'Abernon was the British Ambassador to Berlin. In September 1921 he wrote that the success of the Inter-Allied Military Commission of Control, which reported on German disarmament, meant that there would be no military danger from Germany for many years and that it would be impossible for the Germans to conceal the manufacture of heavy weaponry. In February 1922 he criticised the idea of a military alliance between Britain and France:

The fundamental criticism...is that England undertakes definite and very extensive responsibilities in order to avoid a danger which she believes to be largely imaginary. An armed attack by Germany on France within the next twenty-five years is admittedly improbable, an attack by Germany on England in the same period even more so...the whole tone of the French is to assume that the real danger to the future peace of Europe is military aggression by Germany.

On 9 February 1925 D'Abernon wrote that it was necessary "to abandon the view that Germans are such congenital liars that there is no practical advantage in obtaining from them any engagement or declaration. On this assumption progress is impossible. Personally I regard the Germans as more reliable and more bound to written engagements than many other nations". Lord Vansittart called D'Abernon "the pioneer of

appeasement Appeasement, in an International relations, international context, is a diplomacy, diplomatic negotiation policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power (international relations), power with intention t ...

". General J. H. Morgan also called D'Abernon "the apostle of ′appeasement′" and claimed D'Abernon "did not believe in the possibility, much less the probability, of a German military revival".

Later life

After his retirement from the foreign service, D'Abernon devoted his time to directorships of numerous domestic organisations such as the

Lawn Tennis Association The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is the national governing body of tennis in Great Britain, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man founded in 1888. The LTA promotes all levels of lawn tennis. The organization believes tennis can provide ...

, the Race Course Betting Control Board, the Medical Research Council, and the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, and the

Royal Mint The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's official maker of British coins. It is currently located in Llantrisant, Wales, where it moved in 1968. Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly ow ...

advisory committee. He was also a trustee of the National and

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

Galleries and President of the Royal Statistical Society from 1926 to 1928.

Personal life

D'Abernon married the renowned beauty Helen Venetia Duncombe, daughter of William Duncombe, 1st Earl of Feversham, in 1890. Together they shared a love of society and the fine arts, especially English painting. Both had portraits made by

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 15, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era, Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil ...

. She posed for hers in 1904 at their villa, the Palazzo Giustinian, in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. Vincent was Chairman of the

royal commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

on National Museums and Galleries, which published its report in 1928. The bulk of their art collection was sold at auction in 1929. Two works once in their collection are in the National Gallery, three at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and others at the (Mellon) Yale Center for British Art and other museums. The collection included 17th century Ottoman textiles. D'Abernon died of hypostatic pneumonia and

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

Hove Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...

in November 1941. He had no children and the viscountcy and barony created for him therefore became extinct. There were no remaining heirs to the 1620 baronetcy and that too became extinct on his death.

Honours

D'Abernon was appointed 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, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(KCMG) in 1887, promoted to Knight Grand Cross (GCMG) in 1917, and made Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

(GCB) in 1926. He joined the Privy Council in 1920. D'Abernon was elevated to the peerage as Baron D'Abernon, of Esher in the county of Surrey, in 1914 and advanced to Viscount D'Abernon, of Esher and Stoke d'Abernon in the county of Surrey, in 1926. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

(FRS) in 1934. D'Abernon succeeded his elder brother Sir Frederick D'Abernon Vincent, 15th Baronet of Stoke d'Abernon as 16th Baronet in 1936.

Styles and honours

* Edgar Vincent (1857–1887) * Sir Edgar Vincent KCMG (1887–1899) * Sir Edgar Vincent KCMG MP (1899–1906) * Sir Edgar Vincent KCMG (1906–1914) * The Right Honourable The Lord D'Abernon KCMG (1914–1917) * The Right Honourable The Lord D'Abernon GCMG (1917–1920) * The Right Honourable The Lord D'Abernon GCMG PC (1920–1926) * The Right Honourable The Viscount D'Abernon GCMG PC (1926) * The Right Honourable The Viscount D'Abernon GCB GCMG PC (1926–1934) * The Right Honourable The Viscount D'Abernon GCB GCMG PC FRS (1934–1941)

Works

* ''A Grammar of Modern Greek'' (1881) * ''Alcohol – Its Action on the Human Organism'', His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1918 * ''An Ambassador of Peace'', 3 volumes, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1929–1931 * ''The eighteenth decisive battle of the world: Warsaw, 1920'', Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1931; reprinted by Hyperion Press, Westport, Conn., 1977,

Notes

References

*Paul Auchterlonie, 'A Turk of the west: Sir Edgar Vincent's career in Egypt and the Ottoman Empire,’ ''British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies'' 27:1. (2000) pp. 49–68. ISSN 1353-0194 *Richard Davenport-Hines, �
Vincent, Edgar, Viscount D'Abernon (1857–1941)
, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008, accessed 10 July 2011.

External links

Lord Curzon and the Appointment of Lord D'Abernon as Ambassador to Berlin in 1920
by Gaynor Johnson, ''Journal of Contemporary History'', Vol. 39, No. 1, 57–70 (2004)
National Registry Archive contains several excerpts of D'Abernon writings
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dabernon, Edgar Vincent, 1st Viscount 1857 births 1941 deaths 19th-century British Army personnel Military personnel from West Sussex Coldstream Guards officers People educated at Eton College Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Germany English art collectors Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Vincent, Edgar Vincent, Edgar Vincent, Edgar UK MPs who were granted peerages People associated with the National Gallery, London Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Vincent, Edgar Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Exeter People from Slinfold Barons created by George V Viscounts created by George V Deaths from pneumonia in England Deaths from Parkinson's disease in England