Aubrey Herbert
Encyclopedia
Aubrey Nigel Henry Molyneux Herbert (1880 – 26 September 1923) was a British diplomat, traveller and intelligence officer associated with Albania
n independence. Twice he was offered the throne
of Albania. From 1911 until his death he was a Conservative
Member of Parliament
.
, a wealthy landowner, British cabinet minister and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
and his second wife, Elizabeth Howard of Greystoke Castle
, Cumberland
, sister of Esme Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Penrith
. He was a half-brother to George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon
, the famous Egyptologist who discovered King Tutankhamen's tomb. He was afflicted with eye problems which left him nearly blind from early childhood, losing all his sight towards the end of his life.
Herbert was educated at Eton College
and Balliol College, Oxford University, where he obtained a first class degree in modern history. He was famous for climbing the roofs of the university buildings, despite his near blindness. He numbered among his friends Adrian Carton De Wiart
, Raymond Asquith
, John Buchan and Hilaire Belloc
. Reginald Farrer
remained close throughout his life.
His friendship with Middle East
ern traveller and advisor Sir Mark Sykes dates from his entry into parliament in 1911 when, with George Lloyd, they were the three youngest Conservative MPs. They shared an interest in foreign policy and worked closely together in the Arab Bureau (1916). Herbert was also a close friend of T. E. Lawrence
(Lawrence of Arabia); their letters do not feature in the standard Lawrence collections, but are quoted by Margaret Fitzherbert in the biography of her grandfather, The Man Who Was Greenmantle.
, and a linguist who spoke French
, Italian
, German
, Turkish
, Arabic, Greek
and Albanian
as well as English
.
A renowned traveller, especially in the Middle East
, his trips include voyages through Japan
, Yemen
, Anatolia
and Albania
. During the period 1902-04 he was an honorary attache in Tokyo
, then in Constantinople
during 1904-05. He was much more interested in the Middle East than in the Far East
.
Herbert often dressed as a tramp on his travels.
(1913) he befriended Essad Pasha
. When the Albanian delegates to the 1912–13 London Balkan Peace Conference
arrived, they secured the assistance of Herbert as an advisor. He was very active in their cause and is regarded as having a considerable influence on Albania's obtaining independence in the resulting Treaty of London (1913). One of his constant correspondents on Albania was Edith Durham
.
He was twice offered the throne of Albania
. On the first occasion, just before World War I
, he was interested, but was dissuaded by the then prime minister
, Herbert Asquith, a family friend. The offer remained unofficial and was rejected by the Foreign Office. The Albanian crown went to William of Wied.
The second occasion the crown was offered was after the defeat of the Italian Army by the Albanians in September 1920. Again the offer was unofficial, though it was made on behalf of the Albanian government. Herbert discussed the offer with Philip Kerr
and Maurice Hankey
, pursuing the idea of perhaps acting under the banner of the League of Nations
; Eric Drummond, a friend of Herbert, had become its first Secretary General, and lobbying by Herbert led to the acceptance of Albania as a member in the League of Nations in December 1920. With a change of Foreign Minister in the Albanian government Aubrey's chance of a crown greatly diminished. The crown was then (April 1921), still more unofficially, offered to the Duke of Atholl
by Jim Barnes of the British Friends of Albania residing in Italy.
The National Library of Albania
in Tirana
was once named after Herbert, as was a village in the country.
Member of Parliament (MP) for the Southern division of Somerset
from 1911 to 1918, and for Yeovil from 1918 to his death. Always an advocate of the rights of smaller nations, Herbert opposed the British Government's Irish
policy. Herbert was, however, always seen as something of a lightweight in the House of Commons
.
in 1914, to join the Irish Guards
, in which he served in a supernumerary position. He did this by purchasing a uniform and boarding a troopship bound for France. During the Battle of Mons
he was wounded, taken prisoner, and escaped. After a convalescence in England and unable to rejoin due to his ocular disability, Aubrey was proposed for service in military intelligence
in Egypt by Kitchener
's military secretary Oswald FitzGerald via Mark Sykes (see Baghdad Railway
). Herbert was attached to the Intelligence Bureau in Caïro under Colonel Clayton in January 1915. In mid-February he was sent on an intelligence gathering mission in the Eastern Mediterranean aboard the cruiser Bacchante
. When the Gallipoli Campaign started, General Alexander Godley
, formerly of the Irish Guards and second in command to General Birdwood
of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
, now commanding the New Zealanders, offered him an appointment as liaison officer
and interpreter on the General's staff. His pre-war contacts (a.o. Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı
) and ability to speak Turkish
were to prove useful. He became famous for arranging a truce of eight hours, on Whit Monday
, 24 May, with the Turkish commander Mustafa Kemal
, for the purpose of burying the dead. (This episode appears, with him as "the Honourable Herbert", in Louis de Bernieres
's novel Birds Without Wings
.) In Eastern Mediterranean Intelligence he worked together with Compton Mackenzie
.
In October 1915, on sick leave in England, Herbert carried with him a memorandum from the Arab Bureau from Colonel Clayton to the Foreign Office explaining the situation in the Middle East. In November, the memorandum, at first favourably received, became obsolete after the visit of François Georges-Picot
and his subsequent negotiations with Mark Sykes. It would appear that the Arab Bureau, however, continued working along the lines of the memorandum which led to contrary promises resulting in accusations of bad faith.
In November 1915 Herbert was in Paris and Rome on a secret mission related to Albania. Following the plan to evacuate Anzac Cove
beginning the following month, he volunteered to return to Anzac to stay with the rear guard, convinced that his knowledge of language and his network of acquaintances would greatly benefit that body if captured. The successful evacuation of Anzac and Suvla Bay
on the 20th December and the good prospects for Cape Helles
countered his proposal.
in Mesopotamia
(now Iraq) and the Gulf.
Following the critical situation of British troops at Kut-al-Amara, the War Office was instructed to offer Herbert's services to General Townshend
to negotiate terms with the Turks. T. E. Lawrence
was sent on behalf of the Arab Bureau while Colonel Beach acted for Intelligence of the Indian Expeditionary Force. Together they were to oversee the exchange of prisoners and wounded, and eventually to offer the commander Khalil Pasha up to ₤ 2 million for the relief of Kut. The offer was rejected by Enver Pasha, and the evacuation of the wounded severely hampered through lack of transport.
The situation at Kut led Aubrey to send a telegram to Austen Chamberlain
, Secretary of State for India
, with support of General Lake but still in breach of army regulations, condemning the incompetence in handling the Mesopotamian campaign
. The Government of India
ordered a court martial but the War Office refused. Admiral Wemyss, who travelled to Simla
for the purpose, supported him throughout.
Back in England in July 1916, Aubrey Herbert started asking in the House of Commons for a Royal Commission
to inquire into the conduct of the Mesopotamian campaign. He opposed the routine evasiveness of the Prime Minister, Asquith
(a close friend), by speaking in the House four times on Mesopotamia, and his critics saw in his obstinacy a personal vendetta against Sir Beauchamp Duff
, the Commander-in-Chief in India, and Sir William Meyer, the Financial Secretary., but his persistence paid off, and a Special Commission Mesopotamia
was subsequently appointed.
In October 1916 Aubrey Herbert started his post as a liaison officer with the Italian army, whose frontline lay in Albania. It seems that he was unaware of the clause partitioning Albania signed with Italy in the secret Treaty of London
on 26 April 1915. When the Bolsheviks published its secret provisions in 1917, he rejected the idea of Albania as merely a small Muslim state, the fiefdom he believed of Essad Pasha
. In December he was back in England.
In December 1916 also he learned about the death of his cousin Bron
, the son of his (pacifist) uncle Auberon Herbert
, to whom he had felt closest. From that date Aubrey was to consistently support the idea of negotiated peace.
, who Aubrey knew from Gallipoli, had fallen out with Enver Pasha over the way -by personal order of the Sultan- his command over the Seventh Army opposite Allenby
in Syria had been bestowed on him on the 5th of July (he had been a Staff Captain with the Fifth Army in Damascus in 1905). Aubrey took his notes to the Inter-Allied Conference in Paris. In a memorandum for the Foreign Office he said "If we get the luggage it does not matter very much if the Turks get the labels. When Lord Kitchener was all powerful in Egypt his secretary was wearing a fez. Mesopotamia and Palestine are worth a fez."
In November 1917 Aubrey Herbert was again sent to Italy under orders of General Macdonogh. Now he was in charge of the British Adriatic Mission, with Samuel Hoare coordinating the Mission's special intelligence in Rome. An earlier proposal by expatriate Albanians in America, "Vatra", of raising an Albanian regiment under Aubrey's command had been renewed. The matter lay somewhat delicate with the Italians as "Vatra" became increasingly anti-Italian. On 17 July 1918 the proposal was formally approved in Boston, and the Italian Consulate accepted provided it became a unit in the Italian Army. The end of the war prevented the issue of growing into a tangle.
Herbert ended the war as head of the British mission to the Italian
army in Albania with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel
.
, 1919) at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919
, nor was the resulting political handling cause for much optimism to privileged witnesses such as Aubrey, T. E. Lawrence or Gertrude Bell.
At the Conference there was a glimpse of further prospect for Aubrey Herbert when the Italian delegates proposed to assume shared responsibility over the Caucasus
, an area of vital strategic importance - the Baku
oilfields, access from the north to Mosul
and Kirkuk
. By May 1919, the proposal appeared to be quite empty.
By May 1919 also, the Directorate of Intelligence had changed hands, on the authority of Lord Curzon (acting Foreign Secretary while Arthur Balfour
was negotiating in Paris) from Aubrey's chief General MacDonogh to Sir Basil Thomson
of Scotland Yard Special Branch i.e. from military to civilian in view of the Bolshevik
threat on the home front. Thus it was possible for Aubrey in February 1921 to amaze a friend he could confide to, Lord Robert Cecil
, that he was going abroad as an inspector of Scotland Yard: he went to Berlin to interview Talaat Pasha for intelligence.
, a member of the Protestant Ascendancy
in Ireland
. Lord de Vesci and his wife had converted to Roman Catholicism and raised their children accordingly. Herbert's mother-in-law gave the family a fine house in London. Herbert's mother gave him both a country estate at Pixton Park
in Somerset
with 5,000 acres (20 km²) of land and a substantial villa on the Gulf of Genoa
at Portofino
.
Aubrey and Mary Herbert had four children, a son named Auberon who died unmarried and three daughters, Gabriel Mary, Bridget, and Laura, the last of whom married the novelist Evelyn Waugh
. Waugh featured the Herberts' Italian villa in his war trilogy Sword of Honour
, although he moved it to an imaginary location on the Bay of Naples. Herbert was thus the grandfather of the journalist Auberon Waugh
(who was named after Herbert's own son) and the great-grandfather of Daisy
and Alexander Waugh
.
Herbert was a slim man of more than average height and contemporaries described him as having perfect manners. Towards the end of his life, he became totally blind. He was given very bad advice to the effect that having all his teeth extracted would restore his sight. The dental operation resulted in blood poisoning from which he died in London on 26 September 1923. Herbert's estate was probated in 1924 at 49,970 pounds sterling. His son Auberon
inherited the Pixton Park and Portofino properties.
, a hero in several John Buchan novels. The series starts with The Thirty-Nine Steps
, but Arbuthnot's first appearance is in Greenmantle
, hence the title of his granddaughter's biography of him, The Man Who Was Greenmantle. Herbert's Italian family villa is the model for that in the Sword of Honour
trilogy by his son-in-law Evelyn Waugh
.
The cameo
character of the 'Honourable Herbert' in Louis de Bernieres
's novel Birds Without Wings
is clearly based on Herbert. He appears as a British liaison officer
with the ANZAC troops serving in the Gallipoli
campaign. A polyglot
officer able to communicate with both sides, he arranges the burial of the dead of both sides, achieving great popularity with both sides - a description that mirrors his role in the 1915 truce.
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
n independence. Twice he was offered the throne
King of Albania
While the medieval Angevin Kingdom of Albania was a monarchy, it did not encompass the entirety of the modern state of Albania. The latter has been a kingdom on two occasions. The first time was after it was declared independent in 1912...
of Albania. From 1911 until his death he was a Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
.
Background
Aubrey Herbert was the second son of Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of CarnarvonHenry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon
Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon, PC, DL, FSA, FRS , known as Lord Porchester from 1833 to 1849, was a British politician and a leading member of the Conservative Party...
, a wealthy landowner, British cabinet minister and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was the British King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Lordship of Ireland , the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
and his second wife, Elizabeth Howard of Greystoke Castle
Greystoke Castle
Greystoke Castle is in the village of Greystoke west of Penrith in the county of Cumbria in northern England. .In 1069, after the Norman conquest the English landlord Ligulf of Greystoke was re-granted his land and he built a wooden tower surrounded by a pale . The first stone structure on the...
, Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
, sister of Esme Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Penrith
Esme Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Penrith
Esme William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Penrith, GCB, GCMG, CVO was a British diplomat. He served as British Ambassador to the United States between 1924 and 1930....
. He was a half-brother to George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon
George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon
George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon was an English aristocrat best known as the financial backer of the search for and the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.-Biography:...
, the famous Egyptologist who discovered King Tutankhamen's tomb. He was afflicted with eye problems which left him nearly blind from early childhood, losing all his sight towards the end of his life.
Herbert was educated at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and Balliol College, Oxford University, where he obtained a first class degree in modern history. He was famous for climbing the roofs of the university buildings, despite his near blindness. He numbered among his friends Adrian Carton De Wiart
Adrian Carton de Wiart
Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO , was a British officer of Belgian and Irish descent...
, Raymond Asquith
Raymond Asquith
Raymond Asquith was an English barrister and eldest son and heir of British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith by his first wife Helen Kelsall Melland .- Career and honours :...
, John Buchan and Hilaire Belloc
Hilaire Belloc
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. He was known as a writer, orator, poet, satirist, man of letters and political activist...
. Reginald Farrer
Reginald Farrer
Reginald John Farrer , was a traveller and plant collector. He published a number of books, although is best known for My Rock Garden...
remained close throughout his life.
His friendship with Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
ern traveller and advisor Sir Mark Sykes dates from his entry into parliament in 1911 when, with George Lloyd, they were the three youngest Conservative MPs. They shared an interest in foreign policy and worked closely together in the Arab Bureau (1916). Herbert was also a close friend of T. E. Lawrence
T. E. Lawrence
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO , known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British Army officer renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule of 1916–18...
(Lawrence of Arabia); their letters do not feature in the standard Lawrence collections, but are quoted by Margaret Fitzherbert in the biography of her grandfather, The Man Who Was Greenmantle.
Languages and travels
Herbert was in his own right a considerable OrientalistOriental studies
Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...
, and a linguist who spoke French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, Arabic, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
as well as English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
A renowned traveller, especially in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, his trips include voyages through Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
, Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
and Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
. During the period 1902-04 he was an honorary attache in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, then in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
during 1904-05. He was much more interested in the Middle East than in the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
.
Herbert often dressed as a tramp on his travels.
Albania
He became a passionate advocate of Albanian independence, having visited the country in 1907, 1911 and 1913. During a stay in TiranaTirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
(1913) he befriended Essad Pasha
Essad Pasha
Essad Pasha Toptani or Esad Pasha Toptani , primarily known as Essad Pasha, was Ottoman army officer, Albanian deputy in Ottoman parliament and politician in the early twentieth century in Albania...
. When the Albanian delegates to the 1912–13 London Balkan Peace Conference
London Conference of 1913
The London Conference of 1912-1913 was an international summit to discuss issues arising from the declaration of independence by Albania during the First Balkan War.-History:...
arrived, they secured the assistance of Herbert as an advisor. He was very active in their cause and is regarded as having a considerable influence on Albania's obtaining independence in the resulting Treaty of London (1913). One of his constant correspondents on Albania was Edith Durham
Edith Durham
Mary Edith Durham was a British traveller, artist and writer who became famous for her anthropological accounts of life in Albania in the early 20th century.-Early life:...
.
He was twice offered the throne of Albania
King of Albania
While the medieval Angevin Kingdom of Albania was a monarchy, it did not encompass the entirety of the modern state of Albania. The latter has been a kingdom on two occasions. The first time was after it was declared independent in 1912...
. On the first occasion, just before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he was interested, but was dissuaded by the then prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
, Herbert Asquith, a family friend. The offer remained unofficial and was rejected by the Foreign Office. The Albanian crown went to William of Wied.
The second occasion the crown was offered was after the defeat of the Italian Army by the Albanians in September 1920. Again the offer was unofficial, though it was made on behalf of the Albanian government. Herbert discussed the offer with Philip Kerr
Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian
Philip Henry Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian KT CH PC was a British politician and diplomat.Philip Kerr was the son of Lord Ralph Drury Kerr, the third son of John Kerr, 7th Marquess of Lothian...
and Maurice Hankey
Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey
Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, PC was a British civil servant who gained prominence as the first Cabinet Secretary and who later made the rare transition from the civil service to ministerial office.-Life and career:The third son of R. A...
, pursuing the idea of perhaps acting under the banner of the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
; Eric Drummond, a friend of Herbert, had become its first Secretary General, and lobbying by Herbert led to the acceptance of Albania as a member in the League of Nations in December 1920. With a change of Foreign Minister in the Albanian government Aubrey's chance of a crown greatly diminished. The crown was then (April 1921), still more unofficially, offered to the Duke of Atholl
John Stewart-Murray, 8th Duke of Atholl
Colonel John George Stewart-Murray, 8th Duke of Atholl KT GCVO CB DSO PC ADC , styled Marquess of Tullibardine until 1917, was a Scottish soldier and Conservative politician.-Early life:...
by Jim Barnes of the British Friends of Albania residing in Italy.
The National Library of Albania
National Library of Albania
The National Library of Albania is an Albanian national library headquartered in the capital, Tirana. It was founded in 1920 and inaugurated on December 10, 1922.- References :...
in Tirana
Tirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
was once named after Herbert, as was a village in the country.
Parliament
He was a very independent ConservativeConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of Parliament (MP) for the Southern division of Somerset
South Somerset (UK Parliament constituency)
South Somerset was a county constituency in the county of Somerset, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system....
from 1911 to 1918, and for Yeovil from 1918 to his death. Always an advocate of the rights of smaller nations, Herbert opposed the British Government's Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
policy. Herbert was, however, always seen as something of a lightweight in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
.
1914-15
Despite very poor eyesight, Herbert was able, at the outbreak of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1914, to join the Irish Guards
Irish Guards
The Irish Guards , part of the Guards Division, is a Foot Guards regiment of the British Army.Along with the Royal Irish Regiment, it is one of the two Irish regiments remaining in the British Army. The Irish Guards recruit in Northern Ireland and the Irish neighbourhoods of major British cities...
, in which he served in a supernumerary position. He did this by purchasing a uniform and boarding a troopship bound for France. During the Battle of Mons
Battle of Mons
The Battle of Mons was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War. It was a subsidiary action of the Battle of the Frontiers, in which the Allies clashed with Germany on the French borders. At Mons, the British army attempted to hold the line of the...
he was wounded, taken prisoner, and escaped. After a convalescence in England and unable to rejoin due to his ocular disability, Aubrey was proposed for service in military intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
in Egypt by Kitchener
Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener
Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, ADC, PC , was an Irish-born British Field Marshal and proconsul who won fame for his imperial campaigns and later played a central role in the early part of the First World War, although he died halfway...
's military secretary Oswald FitzGerald via Mark Sykes (see Baghdad Railway
Baghdad Railway
The Baghdad Railway , was built from 1903 to 1940 to connect Berlin with the Ottoman Empire city of Baghdad with a line through modern-day Turkey, Syria, and Iraq....
). Herbert was attached to the Intelligence Bureau in Caïro under Colonel Clayton in January 1915. In mid-February he was sent on an intelligence gathering mission in the Eastern Mediterranean aboard the cruiser Bacchante
HMS Bacchante (1901)
HMS Bacchante was a Cressy-class armoured cruiser launched in 1901 for the Royal Navy. Bacchante served for a while with the Mediterranean Fleet...
. When the Gallipoli Campaign started, General Alexander Godley
Alexander Godley
General Sir Alexander John Godley GCB, KCMG was a First World War general, best known for his role as commander of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force...
, formerly of the Irish Guards and second in command to General Birdwood
William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood
Field Marshal William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, CIE, DSO was a First World War British general who is best known as the commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915.- Youth and early career :Birdwood was born...
of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was a First World War army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force that was formed in Egypt in 1915 and operated during the Battle of Gallipoli. General William Birdwood commanded the corps, which comprised troops from the First Australian Imperial...
, now commanding the New Zealanders, offered him an appointment as liaison officer
Liaison officer
A liaison officer or LNO is a person that liaises between two organizations to communicate and coordinate their activities. Generally, they are used to achieve the best utilization of resources or employment of services of one organization by another. In the military, liaison officers may...
and interpreter on the General's staff. His pre-war contacts (a.o. Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı
Riza Tevfik Bölükbasi
Rıza Tevfik was a Turkish philosopher, poet, politician and a community leader of late 19th century and early 20th century...
) and ability to speak Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
were to prove useful. He became famous for arranging a truce of eight hours, on Whit Monday
Whit Monday
Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday is the holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost, a movable feast in the Christian calendar. It is movable because it is determined by the date of Easter....
, 24 May, with the Turkish commander Mustafa Kemal
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....
, for the purpose of burying the dead. (This episode appears, with him as "the Honourable Herbert", in Louis de Bernieres
Louis de Bernières
Louis de Bernières is a British novelist most famous for his fourth novel, Captain Corelli's Mandolin. In 1993 de Bernières was selected as one of the "20 Best of Young British Novelists", part of a promotion in Granta magazine...
's novel Birds Without Wings
Birds Without Wings (novel)
Birds Without Wings is a novel by Louis de Bernières, written in 2004. Narrated by various characters, it tells the tragic love story of Philothei and Ibrahim. It also chronicles the rise of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the 'Father of the Turkish Nation'...
.) In Eastern Mediterranean Intelligence he worked together with Compton Mackenzie
Compton Mackenzie
Sir Compton Mackenzie, OBE was a writer and a Scottish nationalist.-Background:Compton Mackenzie was born in West Hartlepool, England, into a theatrical family of Mackenzies, but many of whose members used Compton as their stage surname, starting with his grandfather Henry Compton, a well-known...
.
In October 1915, on sick leave in England, Herbert carried with him a memorandum from the Arab Bureau from Colonel Clayton to the Foreign Office explaining the situation in the Middle East. In November, the memorandum, at first favourably received, became obsolete after the visit of François Georges-Picot
François Georges-Picot
François Marie Denis Georges-Picot , son of historian Georges Picot and grand-uncle of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, was a French diplomat who signed the Sykes-Picot Agreement during World War I, with the Englishman, Sir Mark Sykes, dividing up the Ottoman Empire into British, French and, later,...
and his subsequent negotiations with Mark Sykes. It would appear that the Arab Bureau, however, continued working along the lines of the memorandum which led to contrary promises resulting in accusations of bad faith.
In November 1915 Herbert was in Paris and Rome on a secret mission related to Albania. Following the plan to evacuate Anzac Cove
Anzac Cove
Anzac Cove is a small cove on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. It became famous as the site of World War I landing of the ANZAC on April 25, 1915. The cove is a mere long, bounded by the headlands of Ari Burnu to the north and Little Ari Burnu, known as Hell Spit, to the south...
beginning the following month, he volunteered to return to Anzac to stay with the rear guard, convinced that his knowledge of language and his network of acquaintances would greatly benefit that body if captured. The successful evacuation of Anzac and Suvla Bay
Landing at Suvla Bay
The landing at Suvla Bay was an amphibious landing made at Suvla on the Aegean coast of Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire as part of the August Offensive, the final British attempt to break the deadlock of the Battle of Gallipoli...
on the 20th December and the good prospects for Cape Helles
Cape Helles
Cape Helles is the rocky headland at the south-westernmost tip of the Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey. It was the scene of heavy fighting between Turkish and British troops during the landing at Cape Helles at the beginning of the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915....
countered his proposal.
1916
Impatient with the indecision of the Foreign Office over Albania, Herbert at the start of 1916 went prospecting for new opportunities. Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss proposed for him a job as Captain in Intelligence. When in February the War Office cleared him from involvement in Albania, he took up the offer and found himself in charge of Naval intelligenceNaval Intelligence Division
The Naval Intelligence Division was the intelligence arm of the British Admiralty before the establishment of a unified Defence Staff in 1965. It dealt with matters concerning British naval plans, with the collection of naval intelligence...
in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
(now Iraq) and the Gulf.
Following the critical situation of British troops at Kut-al-Amara, the War Office was instructed to offer Herbert's services to General Townshend
Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend
Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend KCB, DSO was a British Indian Army officer who led the ultimately disastrous first British Expedition against Baghdad during World War I, and was later elected to Parliament....
to negotiate terms with the Turks. T. E. Lawrence
T. E. Lawrence
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO , known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British Army officer renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule of 1916–18...
was sent on behalf of the Arab Bureau while Colonel Beach acted for Intelligence of the Indian Expeditionary Force. Together they were to oversee the exchange of prisoners and wounded, and eventually to offer the commander Khalil Pasha up to ₤ 2 million for the relief of Kut. The offer was rejected by Enver Pasha, and the evacuation of the wounded severely hampered through lack of transport.
The situation at Kut led Aubrey to send a telegram to Austen Chamberlain
Austen Chamberlain
Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain, KG was a British statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and half-brother of Neville Chamberlain.- Early life and career :...
, Secretary of State for India
Secretary of State for India
The Secretary of State for India, or India Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister responsible for the government of India and the political head of the India Office...
, with support of General Lake but still in breach of army regulations, condemning the incompetence in handling the Mesopotamian campaign
Mesopotamian Campaign
The Mesopotamian campaign was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the Allies represented by the British Empire, mostly troops from the Indian Empire, and the Central Powers, mostly of the Ottoman Empire.- Background :...
. The Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
ordered a court martial but the War Office refused. Admiral Wemyss, who travelled to Simla
Shimla
Shimla , formerly known as Simla, is the capital city of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of the British Raj in India. A popular tourist destination, Shimla is often referred to as the "Queen of Hills," a term coined by the British...
for the purpose, supported him throughout.
Back in England in July 1916, Aubrey Herbert started asking in the House of Commons for a Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
to inquire into the conduct of the Mesopotamian campaign. He opposed the routine evasiveness of the Prime Minister, Asquith
Asquith
Asquith refers to:Persons of the Asquith family, descended from or related to H.H. Asquith, a British prime minister, later a peer:*Herbert Henry Asquith , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom...
(a close friend), by speaking in the House four times on Mesopotamia, and his critics saw in his obstinacy a personal vendetta against Sir Beauchamp Duff
Beauchamp Duff
General Sir Beauchamp Duff, GCB, GCSI, KCVO, CIE, KStJ , was a Scottish officer with a distinguished military career in the British Indian Army serving as Commander-in-Chief of India during World War I.- Early life :...
, the Commander-in-Chief in India, and Sir William Meyer, the Financial Secretary., but his persistence paid off, and a Special Commission Mesopotamia
Special Commissions (Dardanelles and Mesopotamia) Act 1916
The Special Commissions Act 1916 was set up to investigate the World War I operations in the Dardanelles Campaign and the Mesopotamian campaign....
was subsequently appointed.
In October 1916 Aubrey Herbert started his post as a liaison officer with the Italian army, whose frontline lay in Albania. It seems that he was unaware of the clause partitioning Albania signed with Italy in the secret Treaty of London
London Pact
London Pact , or more correctly, the Treaty of London, 1915, was a secret pact between Italy and Triple Entente, signed in London on 26 April 1915 by the Kingdom of Italy, Great Britain, France and Russia....
on 26 April 1915. When the Bolsheviks published its secret provisions in 1917, he rejected the idea of Albania as merely a small Muslim state, the fiefdom he believed of Essad Pasha
Essad Pasha
Essad Pasha Toptani or Esad Pasha Toptani , primarily known as Essad Pasha, was Ottoman army officer, Albanian deputy in Ottoman parliament and politician in the early twentieth century in Albania...
. In December he was back in England.
In December 1916 also he learned about the death of his cousin Bron
Auberon Herbert, 9th Baron Lucas
Auberon Thomas Herbert, 9th Baron Lucas and 5th Lord Dingwall PC was a British Liberal politician and fighter pilot. He was a member of H. H. Asquith's cabinet as President of the Board of Agriculture between 1914 and 1915....
, the son of his (pacifist) uncle Auberon Herbert
Auberon Herbert
Auberon Edward William Molyneux Herbert was a writer, theorist, philosopher, and "19th-century individualist anarchist." A member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Herbert was the son of the 3rd Earl of Carnarvon, brother of Henry Herbert, the 4th Earl, and father of the 9th Baron Lucas...
, to whom he had felt closest. From that date Aubrey was to consistently support the idea of negotiated peace.
1917-1918
1917 saw him working, under General MacDonogh, the Director of Military Intelligence, on plans of a separate peace with Turkey. On 16 July he conducted a series of meetings with Turks in Geneva, Interlaken and Bern, among them a (secret) representative of an influential anti-Enver group. Let us note that Mustafa KemalMustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....
, who Aubrey knew from Gallipoli, had fallen out with Enver Pasha over the way -by personal order of the Sultan- his command over the Seventh Army opposite Allenby
Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby
Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby GCB, GCMG, GCVO was a British soldier and administrator most famous for his role during the First World War, in which he led the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the conquest of Palestine and Syria in 1917 and 1918.Allenby, nicknamed...
in Syria had been bestowed on him on the 5th of July (he had been a Staff Captain with the Fifth Army in Damascus in 1905). Aubrey took his notes to the Inter-Allied Conference in Paris. In a memorandum for the Foreign Office he said "If we get the luggage it does not matter very much if the Turks get the labels. When Lord Kitchener was all powerful in Egypt his secretary was wearing a fez. Mesopotamia and Palestine are worth a fez."
In November 1917 Aubrey Herbert was again sent to Italy under orders of General Macdonogh. Now he was in charge of the British Adriatic Mission, with Samuel Hoare coordinating the Mission's special intelligence in Rome. An earlier proposal by expatriate Albanians in America, "Vatra", of raising an Albanian regiment under Aubrey's command had been renewed. The matter lay somewhat delicate with the Italians as "Vatra" became increasingly anti-Italian. On 17 July 1918 the proposal was formally approved in Boston, and the Italian Consulate accepted provided it became a unit in the Italian Army. The end of the war prevented the issue of growing into a tangle.
Herbert ended the war as head of the British mission to the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
army in Albania with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
.
Aftermath
Unclear policy led to nationalist criticism from Imperial bases such as Egypt (see Saad ZaghlulSaad Zaghlul
Saad Zaghloul was an Egyptian revolutionary, and statesman. He served as Prime Minister of Egypt from January 26, 1924 to November 24, 1924.-Education, activism and exile:...
, 1919) at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
, nor was the resulting political handling cause for much optimism to privileged witnesses such as Aubrey, T. E. Lawrence or Gertrude Bell.
At the Conference there was a glimpse of further prospect for Aubrey Herbert when the Italian delegates proposed to assume shared responsibility over the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, an area of vital strategic importance - the Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
oilfields, access from the north to Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
and Kirkuk
Kirkuk
Kirkuk is a city in Iraq and the capital of Kirkuk Governorate.It is located in the Iraqi governorate of Kirkuk, north of the capital, Baghdad...
. By May 1919, the proposal appeared to be quite empty.
By May 1919 also, the Directorate of Intelligence had changed hands, on the authority of Lord Curzon (acting Foreign Secretary while Arthur Balfour
Arthur Balfour
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC, DL was a British Conservative politician and statesman...
was negotiating in Paris) from Aubrey's chief General MacDonogh to Sir Basil Thomson
Basil Thomson
Sir Basil Home Thomson, KCB was a British intelligence officer, police officer, prison governor, colonial administrator, and writer.-Early life:...
of Scotland Yard Special Branch i.e. from military to civilian in view of the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
threat on the home front. Thus it was possible for Aubrey in February 1921 to amaze a friend he could confide to, Lord Robert Cecil
Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood
Edgar Algernon Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood CH, PC, QC , known as Lord Robert Cecil from 1868 to 1923, was a lawyer, politician and diplomat in the United Kingdom...
, that he was going abroad as an inspector of Scotland Yard: he went to Berlin to interview Talaat Pasha for intelligence.
Family life and premature death
Aubrey Herbert married Mary, daughter of the 4th Viscount de VesciViscount de Vesci
Viscount de Vesci, of Abbey Leix in the Queen's County, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1776 for Thomas Vesey, 2nd Baron Knapton. The title of Baron Knapton was created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1750 for the first Viscount's father Sir John Vesey, 2nd Baronet, who had...
, a member of the Protestant Ascendancy
Protestant Ascendancy
The Protestant Ascendancy, usually known in Ireland simply as the Ascendancy, is a phrase used when referring to the political, economic, and social domination of Ireland by a minority of great landowners, Protestant clergy, and professionals, all members of the Established Church during the 17th...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. Lord de Vesci and his wife had converted to Roman Catholicism and raised their children accordingly. Herbert's mother-in-law gave the family a fine house in London. Herbert's mother gave him both a country estate at Pixton Park
Pixton Park
Pixton Park is a country house in the parish of Dulverton, Somerset, England. It is associated with at least three historically significant families or dynasties: the Acland Baronets, the politicians and diplomats the Herberts, and the Waughs, a series of writers...
in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
with 5,000 acres (20 km²) of land and a substantial villa on the Gulf of Genoa
Gulf of Genoa
The Gulf of Genoa is the northernmost part of the Ligurian Sea. The width of the gulf is about 125 km, from the city of Imperia in the west to La Spezia in the east. The largest city on the its coast is Genoa, which has an important port....
at Portofino
Portofino
Portofino is a small Italian fishing village, comune and tourist resort located in the province of Genoa on the Italian Riviera. The town is crowded round its small harbour, is closely associated with Paraggi Beach, which is a few minutes up the coast...
.
Aubrey and Mary Herbert had four children, a son named Auberon who died unmarried and three daughters, Gabriel Mary, Bridget, and Laura, the last of whom married the novelist Evelyn Waugh
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
. Waugh featured the Herberts' Italian villa in his war trilogy Sword of Honour
Sword of Honour
The Sword of Honour trilogy by Evelyn Waugh is his look at the Second World War. It consists of three novels, Men at Arms , Officers and Gentlemen and Unconditional Surrender , which loosely parallel his wartime experiences...
, although he moved it to an imaginary location on the Bay of Naples. Herbert was thus the grandfather of the journalist Auberon Waugh
Auberon Waugh
Auberon Alexander Waugh was a British author and journalist, son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was known to his family and friends as Bron Waugh.-Life and career:...
(who was named after Herbert's own son) and the great-grandfather of Daisy
Daisy Waugh
Daisy Louisa Dominica Waugh , known as Daisy Waugh, is an English journalist, travel writer, novelist and television presenter.She has also worked as a restaurant critic and as an agony aunt for The Independent...
and Alexander Waugh
Alexander Waugh
Alexander Waugh is an English writer, critic, composer, cartoonist, record producer and television presenter. He is most known for his biography of Paul Wittgenstein published in 2009....
.
Herbert was a slim man of more than average height and contemporaries described him as having perfect manners. Towards the end of his life, he became totally blind. He was given very bad advice to the effect that having all his teeth extracted would restore his sight. The dental operation resulted in blood poisoning from which he died in London on 26 September 1923. Herbert's estate was probated in 1924 at 49,970 pounds sterling. His son Auberon
Auberon Herbert (landowner)
Auberon Herbert was a British landowner and advocate of Eastern European causes after World War II.Herbert was the son of Aubrey Herbert, Member of Parliament , who died the year after his birth, and brother-in-law of the famous novelist, Evelyn Waugh...
inherited the Pixton Park and Portofino properties.
Model for literature
It is widely believed that Herbert is the inspiration for the character Sandy ArbuthnotSandy Arbuthnot (fiction)
Ludovic "Sandy" Gustavus Arbuthnot, later 16th Lord Clanroyden is a fictional heroic character who appears in various books by John Buchan in the Richard Hannay series. These books include Greenmantle, The Three Hostages, The Courts of the Morning, and The Island of Sheep, but not the first in...
, a hero in several John Buchan novels. The series starts with The Thirty-Nine Steps
The Thirty-nine Steps
The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It first appeared as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine in August and September 1915 before being published in book form in October that year by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh...
, but Arbuthnot's first appearance is in Greenmantle
Greenmantle
Greenmantle is the second of five novels by John Buchan featuring the character of Richard Hannay, first published in 1916 by Hodder & Stoughton, London...
, hence the title of his granddaughter's biography of him, The Man Who Was Greenmantle. Herbert's Italian family villa is the model for that in the Sword of Honour
Sword of Honour
The Sword of Honour trilogy by Evelyn Waugh is his look at the Second World War. It consists of three novels, Men at Arms , Officers and Gentlemen and Unconditional Surrender , which loosely parallel his wartime experiences...
trilogy by his son-in-law Evelyn Waugh
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
.
The cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
character of the 'Honourable Herbert' in Louis de Bernieres
Louis de Bernières
Louis de Bernières is a British novelist most famous for his fourth novel, Captain Corelli's Mandolin. In 1993 de Bernières was selected as one of the "20 Best of Young British Novelists", part of a promotion in Granta magazine...
's novel Birds Without Wings
Birds Without Wings (novel)
Birds Without Wings is a novel by Louis de Bernières, written in 2004. Narrated by various characters, it tells the tragic love story of Philothei and Ibrahim. It also chronicles the rise of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the 'Father of the Turkish Nation'...
is clearly based on Herbert. He appears as a British liaison officer
Liaison officer
A liaison officer or LNO is a person that liaises between two organizations to communicate and coordinate their activities. Generally, they are used to achieve the best utilization of resources or employment of services of one organization by another. In the military, liaison officers may...
with the ANZAC troops serving in the Gallipoli
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...
campaign. A polyglot
Polyglot (person)
A polyglot is someone with a high degree of proficiency in several languages. A bilingual person can speak two languages fluently, whereas a trilingual three; above that the term multilingual may be used.-Hyperpolyglot:...
officer able to communicate with both sides, he arranges the burial of the dead of both sides, achieving great popularity with both sides - a description that mirrors his role in the 1915 truce.