Ladislaus Hengelmuller
Encyclopedia
Ladislaus Hengelmüller von Hengervár (2 May 1845 – 22 April 1917), was an Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 diplomat of Hungarian origin who was a long-term Ambassador at Washington D.C., throughout many Presidential administrations including those of William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...

, Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

 and William Taft.

Life

Born in Pest (now Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

) on 2 May 1845 into a family belonging to the Germany community in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

. His father Michael Hengelmüller was an Austrian court official. On 3 April 1893, he married Marie née Countess Dunin-Borkowska (1859–?), a widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...

 and daughter of Count Alfred Dunin-Borkowski (1834–1895), in Dresden.

After having served in the Chancellery of the Royal Hungarian Court and the Ministry of Finance, Hengelmüller began his diplomatic career. In 1868, he was appointed as Chancellor of the General consulate for China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and 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...

, and then served briefly in the Foreign Ministry
Foreign Ministry of Austria-Hungary
The Foreign Ministry of Austria-Hungary was the ministry responsible for the foreign relations of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the formation of the Dual Monarchy in 1867 until it was dissolved in 1918....

 in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

. Following a stint at the Consulate in Budapest, he was stationed in Washington D.C. and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 from 1870 to 1874. In 1875, he was responsible for the preparations of a commercial treaty with Germany and was thereafter dispatched to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in 1876 and to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1879. It was in this latter posting, where he remained for almost a decade, where he distinguished himself and acquired a reputation for shrewdness. One of his achievements during this time was to obtain a public apology by Gladstone, who was well-known for his stubbornness.

In 1887, he was appointed to serve as minister at Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

 in the wake of the Serbo-Bulgarian War
Serbo-Bulgarian War
The Serbo-Bulgarian War was a war between Serbia and Bulgaria that erupted on 14 November 1885 and lasted until 28 November the same year. Final peace was signed on 19 February 1886 in Bucharest...

 of 1885-1886 and had to exercise a restraining influence on King Milan I, whose throne depended on Austro-Hungarian support. In 1889, he was ennobled as Hengelmüller von Hengervár and appointed a Privy Counsellor (Geheimrat). In 1891, he became minister at Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

 before being appointed to serve as minister at Washington D.C. in 1894.

Described as clever and experienced, Hengelmüller von Hengervár became greatly popular and well-respected during his long period of service in Washington D.C.

In late 1902, he was informed that his legation would be upgraded to an embassy and that he would be promoted to the rank of ambassador. Already in 1896 had he lobbied Emperor Franz Joseph I and Foreign Minister Goluchowski to raise the status of his mission. On 27 December, he presented his credentials to President Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

 and became the first ambassador of Austria-Hungary to the United States.

In the autumn of 1906, his name was one of those advanced as a successor to Count Goluchowski as Imperial Foreign Minister, but the post eventually went to an old friend Count Lexa von Aehrenthal. On 13 December 1906, he was elevated to the rank of Baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...

, one of the few products of the nineteenth century nobility among senior Austro-Hungarian diplomats.
Baron Hengelmüller von Hengervár was present on 10 January 1908 at the Waldorf Astoria
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
The Waldorf-Astoria is a luxury hotel in New York. It has been housed in two historic landmark buildings in New York City. The first, designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the Empire State Building. The present building at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan is a...

 in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 when the American Priory of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem was officially incorporated. In 1909, he signed an arbitration treaty between the United States and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which provided for a Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

.

On 23 February 1910, he became dean of the diplomatic corps in Washington D.C.

When former President Roosevelt, with whom he had become a good friend, visited Austria-Hungary in 1910, he was one of the hosts and Roosevelt also wrote the preface of the Baron's book on Prince Rákóczi
Francis II Rákóczi
Francis II Rákóczi Hungarian aristocrat, he was the leader of the Hungarian uprising against the Habsburgs in 1703-11 as the prince of the Estates Confederated for Liberty of the Kingdom of Hungary. He was also Prince of Transylvania, an Imperial Prince, and a member of the Order of the Golden...

, a Hungarian leader of an uprising against the Habsburgs in the eighteenth century, in 1913. It could be noted though that the Baron's own Hungarian skills were considered rather weak although he was considered an eminent linguist in diplomatic circles.

On a more anecdotal level, Baron Hengelmüller von Hengervár was subject to a quote by the then President Taft: "Let him wait", Taft told Captain Butt
Archibald Butt
Major Archibald Willingham Butt was an influential military aide to U.S. presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Before becoming an aide to Roosevelt, Butt had pursued a career in journalism and served in the Spanish-American War...

 regarding the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador's impatience over a delayed appointment. "A man with the name of Hengelmuller should not want me to leave my lunch"
.

In the autumn of 1912, he formally announced his retirement and that he would return to Vienna after close to twenty years in Washington D.C. His long years of service but also the fact that Count Lexa von Aehrenthal, a personal friend, had died earlier that year likely contributed to this end. He was succeeded by Konstantin Dumba
Konstantin Dumba
Konstantin Dumba , was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat serving as its last accredited Ambassador to the United States and famous for having been expelled during World War I following accusations of espionage.- Life :Born in Vienna on 17 June 1861 as the son of Nikolaus Dumba , a wealthy Greek...

 who held the post until he was declared persona non grata
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...

and expelled from the country by President Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

 in 1915.

Baron Hengelmüller von Hengelvár, who had been appointed a life-time member of the Hungarian House of Magnates in 1910, died at Abbazia (now Opatija
Opatija
Opatija is a town in western Croatia, just southwest of Rijeka on the Adriatic coast. , the town proper had a population of 7,850, with the municipality having a total 12,719 inhabitants.-Geography:...

), at the time one of the leading health resorts of the Habsburg Empire located in Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...

, on 22 April 1917.

His summer residence in Maine from his years in the United States today operates as a bed and breakfast.

Works

  • Franz Rákóczi und sein Kampf für Ungarns Freiheit 1703-1711, Berlin, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1913 (translation as Hungary's fight for national existence, or the history of the great uprising led by Francis Rakoczi II. 1703-1711, London, Macmillan, 1913).
  • Austria-Hungary and the War (together with Albert Graf Apponyi von Nagy-Appony
    Albert Apponyi
    Count Albert Apponyi de Nagyappony was a distinguished Hungarian nobleman and politician from an ancient noble family dating back to the 13th century. He was born on 29 May 1846, in Vienna, where his father, Count György Apponyi, was the resident Hungarian Chancellor at the time...

    , Konstantin Dumba
    Konstantin Dumba
    Konstantin Dumba , was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat serving as its last accredited Ambassador to the United States and famous for having been expelled during World War I following accusations of espionage.- Life :Born in Vienna on 17 June 1861 as the son of Nikolaus Dumba , a wealthy Greek...

     and Alexander Nuber von Pereked), New York, Austro-Hungarian Consulate-general, 1915.

External links


Ladislaus (from 1906, Freiherr) Hengelmüller von Hengervár (2 May 1845 – 22 April 1917), was an Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 diplomat of Hungarian origin who was a long-term Ambassador at Washington D.C., throughout many Presidential administrations including those of William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...

, Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

 and William Taft.

Life

Born in Pest (now Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

) on 2 May 1845 into a family belonging to the Germany community in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

. His father Michael Hengelmüller was an Austrian court official. On 3 April 1893, he married Marie née Countess Dunin-Borkowska (1859–?), a widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...

 and daughter of Count Alfred Dunin-Borkowski (1834–1895), in Dresden.

After having served in the Chancellery of the Royal Hungarian Court and the Ministry of Finance, Hengelmüller began his diplomatic career. In 1868, he was appointed as Chancellor of the General consulate for China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and 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...

, and then served briefly in the Foreign Ministry
Foreign Ministry of Austria-Hungary
The Foreign Ministry of Austria-Hungary was the ministry responsible for the foreign relations of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the formation of the Dual Monarchy in 1867 until it was dissolved in 1918....

 in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

. Following a stint at the Consulate in Budapest, he was stationed in Washington D.C. and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 from 1870 to 1874. In 1875, he was responsible for the preparations of a commercial treaty with Germany and was thereafter dispatched to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in 1876 and to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1879. It was in this latter posting, where he remained for almost a decade, where he distinguished himself and acquired a reputation for shrewdness. One of his achievements during this time was to obtain a public apology by Gladstone, who was well-known for his stubbornness.

In 1887, he was appointed to serve as minister at Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

 in the wake of the Serbo-Bulgarian War
Serbo-Bulgarian War
The Serbo-Bulgarian War was a war between Serbia and Bulgaria that erupted on 14 November 1885 and lasted until 28 November the same year. Final peace was signed on 19 February 1886 in Bucharest...

 of 1885-1886 and had to exercise a restraining influence on King Milan I, whose throne depended on Austro-Hungarian support. In 1889, he was ennobled as Hengelmüller von Hengervár and appointed a Privy Counsellor (Geheimrat). In 1891, he became minister at Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

 before being appointed to serve as minister at Washington D.C. in 1894.

Described as clever and experienced, Hengelmüller von Hengervár became greatly popular and well-respected during his long period of service in Washington D.C.

In late 1902, he was informed that his legation would be upgraded to an embassy and that he would be promoted to the rank of ambassador. Already in 1896 had he lobbied Emperor Franz Joseph I and Foreign Minister Goluchowski to raise the status of his mission. On 27 December, he presented his credentials to President Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

 and became the first ambassador of Austria-Hungary to the United States.

In the autumn of 1906, his name was one of those advanced as a successor to Count Goluchowski as Imperial Foreign Minister, but the post eventually went to an old friend Count Lexa von Aehrenthal. On 13 December 1906, he was elevated to the rank of Baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...

, one of the few products of the nineteenth century nobility among senior Austro-Hungarian diplomats.
Baron Hengelmüller von Hengervár was present on 10 January 1908 at the Waldorf Astoria
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
The Waldorf-Astoria is a luxury hotel in New York. It has been housed in two historic landmark buildings in New York City. The first, designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the Empire State Building. The present building at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan is a...

 in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 when the American Priory of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem was officially incorporated. In 1909, he signed an arbitration treaty between the United States and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which provided for a Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

.

On 23 February 1910, he became dean of the diplomatic corps in Washington D.C.

When former President Roosevelt, with whom he had become a good friend, visited Austria-Hungary in 1910, he was one of the hosts and Roosevelt also wrote the preface of the Baron's book on Prince Rákóczi
Francis II Rákóczi
Francis II Rákóczi Hungarian aristocrat, he was the leader of the Hungarian uprising against the Habsburgs in 1703-11 as the prince of the Estates Confederated for Liberty of the Kingdom of Hungary. He was also Prince of Transylvania, an Imperial Prince, and a member of the Order of the Golden...

, a Hungarian leader of an uprising against the Habsburgs in the eighteenth century, in 1913. It could be noted though that the Baron's own Hungarian skills were considered rather weak although he was considered an eminent linguist in diplomatic circles.

On a more anecdotal level, Baron Hengelmüller von Hengervár was subject to a quote by the then President Taft: "Let him wait", Taft told Captain Butt
Archibald Butt
Major Archibald Willingham Butt was an influential military aide to U.S. presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Before becoming an aide to Roosevelt, Butt had pursued a career in journalism and served in the Spanish-American War...

 regarding the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador's impatience over a delayed appointment. "A man with the name of Hengelmuller should not want me to leave my lunch"
.

In the autumn of 1912, he formally announced his retirement and that he would return to Vienna after close to twenty years in Washington D.C. His long years of service but also the fact that Count Lexa von Aehrenthal, a personal friend, had died earlier that year likely contributed to this end. He was succeeded by Konstantin Dumba
Konstantin Dumba
Konstantin Dumba , was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat serving as its last accredited Ambassador to the United States and famous for having been expelled during World War I following accusations of espionage.- Life :Born in Vienna on 17 June 1861 as the son of Nikolaus Dumba , a wealthy Greek...

 who held the post until he was declared persona non grata
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...

and expelled from the country by President Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

 in 1915.

Baron Hengelmüller von Hengelvár, who had been appointed a life-time member of the Hungarian House of Magnates in 1910, died at Abbazia (now Opatija
Opatija
Opatija is a town in western Croatia, just southwest of Rijeka on the Adriatic coast. , the town proper had a population of 7,850, with the municipality having a total 12,719 inhabitants.-Geography:...

), at the time one of the leading health resorts of the Habsburg Empire located in Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...

, on 22 April 1917.

His summer residence in Maine from his years in the United States today operates as a bed and breakfast.

Works

  • Franz Rákóczi und sein Kampf für Ungarns Freiheit 1703-1711, Berlin, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1913 (translation as Hungary's fight for national existence, or the history of the great uprising led by Francis Rakoczi II. 1703-1711, London, Macmillan, 1913).
  • Austria-Hungary and the War (together with Albert Graf Apponyi von Nagy-Appony
    Albert Apponyi
    Count Albert Apponyi de Nagyappony was a distinguished Hungarian nobleman and politician from an ancient noble family dating back to the 13th century. He was born on 29 May 1846, in Vienna, where his father, Count György Apponyi, was the resident Hungarian Chancellor at the time...

    , Konstantin Dumba
    Konstantin Dumba
    Konstantin Dumba , was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat serving as its last accredited Ambassador to the United States and famous for having been expelled during World War I following accusations of espionage.- Life :Born in Vienna on 17 June 1861 as the son of Nikolaus Dumba , a wealthy Greek...

     and Alexander Nuber von Pereked), New York, Austro-Hungarian Consulate-general, 1915.

External links


Ladislaus (from 1906, Freiherr) Hengelmüller von Hengervár (2 May 1845 – 22 April 1917), was an Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 diplomat of Hungarian origin who was a long-term Ambassador at Washington D.C., throughout many Presidential administrations including those of William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...

, Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

 and William Taft.

Life

Born in Pest (now Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

) on 2 May 1845 into a family belonging to the Germany community in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

. His father Michael Hengelmüller was an Austrian court official. On 3 April 1893, he married Marie née Countess Dunin-Borkowska (1859–?), a widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...

 and daughter of Count Alfred Dunin-Borkowski (1834–1895), in Dresden.

After having served in the Chancellery of the Royal Hungarian Court and the Ministry of Finance, Hengelmüller began his diplomatic career. In 1868, he was appointed as Chancellor of the General consulate for China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and 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...

, and then served briefly in the Foreign Ministry
Foreign Ministry of Austria-Hungary
The Foreign Ministry of Austria-Hungary was the ministry responsible for the foreign relations of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the formation of the Dual Monarchy in 1867 until it was dissolved in 1918....

 in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

. Following a stint at the Consulate in Budapest, he was stationed in Washington D.C. and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 from 1870 to 1874. In 1875, he was responsible for the preparations of a commercial treaty with Germany and was thereafter dispatched to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in 1876 and to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1879. It was in this latter posting, where he remained for almost a decade, where he distinguished himself and acquired a reputation for shrewdness. One of his achievements during this time was to obtain a public apology by Gladstone, who was well-known for his stubbornness.

In 1887, he was appointed to serve as minister at Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

 in the wake of the Serbo-Bulgarian War
Serbo-Bulgarian War
The Serbo-Bulgarian War was a war between Serbia and Bulgaria that erupted on 14 November 1885 and lasted until 28 November the same year. Final peace was signed on 19 February 1886 in Bucharest...

 of 1885-1886 and had to exercise a restraining influence on King Milan I, whose throne depended on Austro-Hungarian support. In 1889, he was ennobled as Hengelmüller von Hengervár and appointed a Privy Counsellor (Geheimrat). In 1891, he became minister at Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

 before being appointed to serve as minister at Washington D.C. in 1894.

Described as clever and experienced, Hengelmüller von Hengervár became greatly popular and well-respected during his long period of service in Washington D.C.

In late 1902, he was informed that his legation would be upgraded to an embassy and that he would be promoted to the rank of ambassador. Already in 1896 had he lobbied Emperor Franz Joseph I and Foreign Minister Goluchowski to raise the status of his mission. On 27 December, he presented his credentials to President Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

 and became the first ambassador of Austria-Hungary to the United States.

In the autumn of 1906, his name was one of those advanced as a successor to Count Goluchowski as Imperial Foreign Minister, but the post eventually went to an old friend Count Lexa von Aehrenthal. On 13 December 1906, he was elevated to the rank of Baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...

, one of the few products of the nineteenth century nobility among senior Austro-Hungarian diplomats.
Baron Hengelmüller von Hengervár was present on 10 January 1908 at the Waldorf Astoria
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
The Waldorf-Astoria is a luxury hotel in New York. It has been housed in two historic landmark buildings in New York City. The first, designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the Empire State Building. The present building at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan is a...

 in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 when the American Priory of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem was officially incorporated. In 1909, he signed an arbitration treaty between the United States and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which provided for a Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

.

On 23 February 1910, he became dean of the diplomatic corps in Washington D.C.

When former President Roosevelt, with whom he had become a good friend, visited Austria-Hungary in 1910, he was one of the hosts and Roosevelt also wrote the preface of the Baron's book on Prince Rákóczi
Francis II Rákóczi
Francis II Rákóczi Hungarian aristocrat, he was the leader of the Hungarian uprising against the Habsburgs in 1703-11 as the prince of the Estates Confederated for Liberty of the Kingdom of Hungary. He was also Prince of Transylvania, an Imperial Prince, and a member of the Order of the Golden...

, a Hungarian leader of an uprising against the Habsburgs in the eighteenth century, in 1913. It could be noted though that the Baron's own Hungarian skills were considered rather weak although he was considered an eminent linguist in diplomatic circles.

On a more anecdotal level, Baron Hengelmüller von Hengervár was subject to a quote by the then President Taft: "Let him wait", Taft told Captain Butt
Archibald Butt
Major Archibald Willingham Butt was an influential military aide to U.S. presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Before becoming an aide to Roosevelt, Butt had pursued a career in journalism and served in the Spanish-American War...

 regarding the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador's impatience over a delayed appointment. "A man with the name of Hengelmuller should not want me to leave my lunch"
.

In the autumn of 1912, he formally announced his retirement and that he would return to Vienna after close to twenty years in Washington D.C. His long years of service but also the fact that Count Lexa von Aehrenthal, a personal friend, had died earlier that year likely contributed to this end. He was succeeded by Konstantin Dumba
Konstantin Dumba
Konstantin Dumba , was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat serving as its last accredited Ambassador to the United States and famous for having been expelled during World War I following accusations of espionage.- Life :Born in Vienna on 17 June 1861 as the son of Nikolaus Dumba , a wealthy Greek...

 who held the post until he was declared persona non grata
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...

and expelled from the country by President Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

 in 1915.

Baron Hengelmüller von Hengelvár, who had been appointed a life-time member of the Hungarian House of Magnates in 1910, died at Abbazia (now Opatija
Opatija
Opatija is a town in western Croatia, just southwest of Rijeka on the Adriatic coast. , the town proper had a population of 7,850, with the municipality having a total 12,719 inhabitants.-Geography:...

), at the time one of the leading health resorts of the Habsburg Empire located in Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...

, on 22 April 1917.

His summer residence in Maine from his years in the United States today operates as a bed and breakfast.

Works

  • Franz Rákóczi und sein Kampf für Ungarns Freiheit 1703-1711, Berlin, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1913 (translation as Hungary's fight for national existence, or the history of the great uprising led by Francis Rakoczi II. 1703-1711, London, Macmillan, 1913).
  • Austria-Hungary and the War (together with Albert Graf Apponyi von Nagy-Appony
    Albert Apponyi
    Count Albert Apponyi de Nagyappony was a distinguished Hungarian nobleman and politician from an ancient noble family dating back to the 13th century. He was born on 29 May 1846, in Vienna, where his father, Count György Apponyi, was the resident Hungarian Chancellor at the time...

    , Konstantin Dumba
    Konstantin Dumba
    Konstantin Dumba , was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat serving as its last accredited Ambassador to the United States and famous for having been expelled during World War I following accusations of espionage.- Life :Born in Vienna on 17 June 1861 as the son of Nikolaus Dumba , a wealthy Greek...

     and Alexander Nuber von Pereked), New York, Austro-Hungarian Consulate-general, 1915.

External links


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