Sir Horace George Montagu Rumbold, 9th Baronet, (5 February 1869 – 24 May 1941) was a British

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

. A well-travelled man who learned

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

and

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, he is largely remembered for his role as British Ambassador to Berlin from 1928 to 1933 in which he warned of the ambitions of Hitler and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

Background and education

Rumbold was born on 5 February 1869 at

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, the son of

Sir Horace Rumbold, 8th Baronet Sir Horace Rumbold, 8th Baronet, (2 July 1829 – 3 November 1913) was a British diplomat who was minister or ambassador to several countries. He succeeded his brother, Charles, as Rumbold Baronets, Baronet in 1877. Career He was educated ...

and Caroline Barney (née Harrington). Horace was educated at Aldin House Prep School and at Eton.

Career

Rumbold was an honorary

attaché In diplomacy, an attaché () is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified ac ...

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

(1889–1890), where his father was ambassador. In 1891, he passed the first of the required examinations and entered the Diplomatic Service. After a year at 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 * United ...

in London, he served in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and

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between 1900 and 1913. He was then moved to

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(1909–1913) and to

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(1913–1914). In Berlin, he took up the position of counsellor. Rumbold was in charge of the

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when the ambassador, Sir Edward Goschen, went home on leave on 1 July. Rumbold conducted negotiations in the first four of the ten days that preceded the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Rumbold left Berlin with the ambassador on 5 August 1914, with crowds attacking the embassy and their train. In 1916, he was appointed ambassador to Berne. After the war, he was appointed ambassador to Poland in 1919, The following year, he became the High Commissioner to Constantinople during which he signed the

Lausanne Treaty The Treaty of Lausanne (, ) is a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–1923 and signed in the Palais de Rumine in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially resolved the conflict that had initially ...

on behalf of the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

. He then became ambassador to Madrid from 1924 to 1928. Rumbold was appointed to his last position as ambassador to Berlin in 1928. He supported appeasing

Heinrich Brüning Heinrich Aloysius Maria Elisabeth Brüning (; 26 November 1885 – 30 March 1970) was a German Centre Party politician and academic, who served as the chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic from 1930 to 1932. A political scientis ...

's government in the hope of staving off German

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

parties such as

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

. Once Hitler came to power in 1933, Rumbold was deeply unsettled by the Nazi regime and produced a succession of despatches critical of the Nazis. On 26 April 1933 Rumbold sent to the

his valedictory despatch in which he gave an unvarnished view of Hitler, the Nazis and their ambitions:

itlerstarts with the assumption that man is a fighting animal; therefore the nation is a fighting unit, being a community of fighters.... A country or race which ceases to fight is doomed.... Pacifism is the deadliest sin.... Intelligence is of secondary importance.... Will and determination are of the higher worth. Only brute force can ensure survival of the race. The new Reich must gather within its fold all the scattered
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
elements in Europe.... What Germany needs is an increase in territory... o Hitlerthe idea that there is something reprehensible in chauvinism is entirely mistaken... the climax of education is military service or youthseducated to the maximum of aggressiveness.... It is the duty of the government to implant in the people feeling of manly courage and passionate hatred.... Intellectualism is undesirable...It is objectionable to preach international understanding... ehas spoken with derision of such delusive documents as peace-pacts and such delusive ideas as the spirit of Locarno.

Rumbold concluded by giving stark warnings for the future of international relations:

...it would be misleading to base any hopes on a return to sanity... he German government is encouraging an attitude of mind..which can only end in one way.... I have the impression that the persons directing the policy of the Hitler government are not normal.

Sir John Simon, the Foreign Secretary, found Rumbold's descriptions to be "definitely disquieting".

Ralph Wigram Ralph Follett Wigram ( ; 23 October 1890 – 31 December 1936) was a British government official in the Foreign Office. He helped raise the alarm about German rearmament under Hitler during the period prior to World War II. In part, he did thi ...

, an official in the Foreign Office, gave

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

a copy of this despatch in the middle of March 1936. After Rumbold's death, Lord Vansittart said of him that "little escaped him, and his warnings bout Nazi Germanywere clearer than anything that we got later".

Walter Laqueur Walter Ze'ev Laqueur (26 May 1921 – 30 September 2018) was a German-born American historian, journalist, political commentator, and Holocaust survivor. He was an influential scholar on the subjects of terrorism and political violence. Biograph ...

concurred by claiming that Rumbold's "prophetic" insights explained the Third Reich better than the expert opinions that were later issued from the

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Honours

Rumbold was made a Member of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

(MVO) in 1907, 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, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

in 1917, sworn of the Privy Council in 1920 and appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in 1922.

Personal life

Rumbold married Etheldred Constantia Fane, younger daughter of the British diplomat

Sir Edmund Douglas Veitch Fane Sir Edmund Douglas Veitch Fane (6 May 1837 – 20 March 1900) was a British diplomat. Early life and education Fane was born in Boyton, Wiltshire, the eldest son of Rev. Arthur Fane (d. 1872) of Boyton, prebendary of Salisbury, by Lucy, daught ...

(1837–1900) by his wife Constantia Wood, a niece of the 3rd Earl of Lonsdale, on 18 July 1905. On his father's death in November 1913, Horace succeeded him as 9th

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

. They had one son and two daughters; the younger daughter died young in 1918. Lady Rumbold's only brother Henry Nevile Fane was married in 1910 (divorced 1935) to the elder daughter of the 21st Baron Clinton, and the Rumbolds were thus indirectly related to the British royal family after 1923. Rumbold retired due to his age in June 1933, though he later served on the

Peel Commission The Peel Commission, formally known as the Palestine Royal Commission, was a British Royal Commission of Inquiry, headed by Lord Peel, appointed in 1936 to investigate the causes of conflict in Mandatory Palestine, which was administered by t ...

for Palestine. He died on 24 May 1941, aged 72, at his home in Tisbury, Wiltshire. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son,

Anthony Anthony, also spelled Antony, is a masculine given name derived from the '' Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descenda ...

, who also became a distinguished diplomat.

Notes

References

Bibliography

*''The War Crisis in Berlin: July to August 1914'' by Horace Rumbold (London, 1944).

External links

Catalogue of the papers of Sir Horace Rumbold held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rumbold, Horace 1869 births 1941 deaths People educated at Eton College Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Turkey Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Spain Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Germany Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Poland British expatriates in the Russian Empire People of the Turkish War of Independence