Edgar Vincent, 1st Viscount D'Abernon
Encyclopedia
Edgar Vincent, 1st Viscount D'Abernon, GCB, GCMG, PC
, FRS (19 August 1857 – 1 November 1941) was a British
politician, diplomat, art collector and author.
, West Sussex
and educated at Eton College
for the diplomatic service. Instead, he spent five years as a member of the Coldstream Guards
before coming into the service as secretary to Lord Edmond FitzMaurice
, Queen's Commissioner on the East Rumelian Question. He was himself appointed Commissioner for the Evacuation of Thessaly
(ceded to Greece by Turkey) and advised the Egypt
ian government on financial matters from 1883 to 1889.
n 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 form 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 was heavily condemned for his role in the disaster, though he personally made a fortune from the shares.
In 1896 the banking office in Constantinople
was attacked 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
for Exeter
. He was less a true Conservative than a personal devotee of the Conservative leader, A. J. Balfour. He held the seat until losing his seat to a Liberal in 1906
. He opposed the Conservative policy of Tariff Reform and unsuccessfully stood for the Liberal Party in Colchester in December 1910. In July 1914 he raised him to the peerage as Baron D'Abernon of Esher upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith
.
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).
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
". General J. H. Morgan also called D'Abernon "the apostle of ‘appeasement’ and did not believe in the possibility, much less the probability, of a German military revival".
in 1887, promoted to Knight Grand Cross in 1917, and made Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
in 1926. He joined the Privy Council
in 1920, was created Baron D'Abernon
, of Esher in the county of Surrey, in 1914 and elevated to Viscount D'Abernon
, of Esher and Stoke d'Abernon in the county of Surrey, in 1926. He succeeded his elder brother as 16th Baronet of Stoke d'Abernon
in 1936.
, the Race Course Betting Control Board, the Medical Research Council
, and the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, and the Royal Mint
advisory committee. He was also a trustee of the National and Tate
Galleries, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
in 1934. He was also President of the Royal Statistical Society
from 1926 to 1928.
in 1890. Together they shared a love of society and the fine arts, especially English painting. Both had portraits made by John Singer Sargent
. She posed for hers in 1904 at their villa, the Palazzo Giustiniani, in Venice
. Vincent was Chairman of the royal commission
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.
D'Abernon died of hypostatic pneumonia and Parkinson's disease
at Hove
in November 1941. As the couple were childless, his titles became extinct when he died.
_financier__diplomat.jpg)
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
, FRS (19 August 1857 – 1 November 1941) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
politician, diplomat, art collector and author.
Early life
Vincent was the youngest son of Sir Frederick Vincent, 11th Baronet, of Stoke D'Abernon (1798–1883) and his second wife, Maria Copley (d. 1899). He was born at SlinfoldSlinfold
Slinfold is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies just off the A29 road 3.4 miles west of Horsham.The parish has a land area of 1695 hectares...
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
and 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"....
for the diplomatic service. Instead, he spent five years as a member of the Coldstream Guards
Coldstream Guards
Her Majesty's Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, also known officially as the Coldstream Guards , is a regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division or Household Division....
before coming into the service as secretary to Lord Edmond FitzMaurice
Edmond Fitzmaurice, 1st Baron Fitzmaurice
Edmond George Petty-Fitzmaurice, 1st Baron Fitzmaurice PC , styled Lord Edmond FitzMaurice from 1863 to 1906, was a British Liberal politician. He served as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1883 to 1885 and again from 1905 to 1908, when he entered the cabinet as Chancellor of the...
, Queen's Commissioner on the East Rumelian Question. He was himself appointed Commissioner for the Evacuation of Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
(ceded to Greece by Turkey) and advised the Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian government on financial matters from 1883 to 1889.
Ottoman Bank crash
That year he became governor of the Imperial Ottoman Bank. One of his policies was to get the Bank involved in South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n 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 form 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 was heavily condemned for his role in the disaster, though he personally made a fortune from the shares.
In 1896 the banking office in Constantinople
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
was attacked by a group of armed Armenians
1896 Ottoman Bank Takeover
The 1896 Ottoman Bank Takeover was the seizing of the Ottoman Bank in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, on 26 August 1896, by members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation...
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 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
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,...
for Exeter
Exeter (UK Parliament constituency)
Exeter is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
. He was less a true Conservative than a personal devotee of the Conservative leader, A. J. Balfour. He held the seat until losing his seat to a Liberal in 1906
United Kingdom general election, 1906
-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1906*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...
. He opposed the Conservative policy of Tariff Reform and unsuccessfully stood for the Liberal Party in Colchester in December 1910. In July 1914 he raised him to the peerage as Baron D'Abernon of Esher upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith
H. H. Asquith
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, KG, PC, KC served as the Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916...
.
Poland
D'Abernon was part of the Interallied Mission to PolandInterallied Mission to Poland
Interallied Mission to Poland was a diplomatic mission launched by David Lloyd George on July 21, 1920, at the height of the Polish-Soviet War, weeks before the decisive Battle of Warsaw...
in July 1920, during the Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
. Later this experience provided material for his book The Eighteenth Decisive Battle of the World: Warsaw, 1920
Battle of Warsaw (1920)
The Battle of Warsaw sometimes referred to as the Miracle at the Vistula, was the decisive battle of the Polish–Soviet War. That war began soon after the end of World War I in 1918 and lasted until the Treaty of Riga resulted in the end of the hostilities between Poland and Russia in 1921.The...
(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
Robert Vansittart, 1st Baron Vansittart
Robert Gilbert Vansittart, 1st Baron Vansittart GCB, GCMG, PC, MVO was a senior British diplomat in the period before and during the Second World War...
called D'Abernon "the pioneer of appeasement
Appeasement
The term appeasement is commonly understood to refer to a diplomatic policy aimed at avoiding war by making concessions to another power. Historian Paul Kennedy defines it as "the policy of settling international quarrels by admitting and satisfying grievances through rational negotiation and...
". General J. H. Morgan also called D'Abernon "the apostle of ‘appeasement’ and did not believe in the possibility, much less the probability, of a German military revival".
Honours
D'Abernon was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St GeorgeOrder of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
in 1887, promoted to Knight Grand Cross in 1917, and made Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
in 1926. He joined the Privy Council
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
in 1920, was created Baron D'Abernon
Viscount D'Abernon
Viscount D'Abernon, of Esher and of Stoke D'Abernon in the County of Surrey, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 20 February 1926 for the politician, diplomat and writer Edgar Vincent, 1st Baron D'Abernon. He had already been created Baron D'Abernon, of Esher in the...
, of Esher in the county of Surrey, in 1914 and elevated to Viscount D'Abernon
Viscount D'Abernon
Viscount D'Abernon, of Esher and of Stoke D'Abernon in the County of Surrey, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 20 February 1926 for the politician, diplomat and writer Edgar Vincent, 1st Baron D'Abernon. He had already been created Baron D'Abernon, of Esher in the...
, of Esher and Stoke d'Abernon in the county of Surrey, in 1926. He succeeded his elder brother as 16th Baronet of Stoke d'Abernon
Viscount D'Abernon
Viscount D'Abernon, of Esher and of Stoke D'Abernon in the County of Surrey, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 20 February 1926 for the politician, diplomat and writer Edgar Vincent, 1st Baron D'Abernon. He had already been created Baron D'Abernon, of Esher in the...
in 1936.
Directorships
After his retirement from the foreign service, D'Abernon devoted his time to directorships of numerous domestic organizations such as the Lawn Tennis AssociationLawn Tennis Association
The Lawn Tennis Association is the national governing body of tennis in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.As the governing body, the LTA is responsible for the coaching and development of junior players, offering courses and qualifications on coaching, as well as the...
, the Race Course Betting Control Board, the Medical Research Council
Medical Research Council (UK)
The Medical Research Council is a publicly-funded agency responsible for co-ordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is one of seven Research Councils in the UK and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...
, and the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, and the Royal Mint
Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but since 2009 it operates as Royal Mint Ltd, a company which has an exclusive contract with HM Treasury to supply all coinage for the UK...
advisory committee. He was also a trustee of the National and Tate
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
Galleries, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
in 1934. He was also President of the Royal Statistical Society
President of the Royal Statistical Society
The President of the Royal Statistical Society is the head of the Royal Statistical Society , elected biannually by the Fellows of the Society. ....
from 1926 to 1928.
Personal life
D'Abernon married the renowned beauty Helen Venetia DuncombeHelen Vincent, Viscountess D'Abernon
Helen Venetia Vincent, Viscountess D'Abernon was a British peeress, socialite and diarist.Helen was the daughter of William Duncombe, 1st Earl of Feversham, of Ryedale and Mabel Violet Graham, born at their estate of Duncombe Park in Helmsley, North Yorkshire, England...
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
John Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings...
. She posed for hers in 1904 at their villa, the Palazzo Giustiniani, in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. Vincent was Chairman of the 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...
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
Yale Center for British Art
The Yale Center for British Art is an art museum in New Haven, Connecticut at Yale University which houses the most comprehensive collection of British Art outside the United Kingdom...
and other museums.
D'Abernon died of hypostatic pneumonia and Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
at Hove
Hove
Hove is a town on the south coast of England, immediately to the west of its larger neighbour Brighton, with which it forms the unitary authority Brighton and Hove. It forms a single conurbation together with Brighton and some smaller towns and villages running along the coast...
in November 1941. As the couple were childless, his titles became extinct when he died.
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, ISBN 0-88355-429-1
Further reading
- R. P. T. Davenport-Hines, Speculators and Patriots. Essays in Business Biography (Routledge, 1986).
- Philip Dent, ‘The D'Abernon Papers: Origins of 'Appeasement'’, The British Museum Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 3/4 (Autumn, 1973), pp. 103-107.
- Gaynor Johnson, The Berlin Embassy of Lord D'Abernon, 1920-1926 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002). ISBN 0-333-94549-2
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