Horace Rumbold, 9th Baronet
Sir Horace George Montagu Rumbold, 9th Baronet GCB , GCMG , KCVO , PC (born February 5, 1869 in Saint Petersburg , † May 24, 1941 ) was a British diplomat . Rumbold held the office of British ambassador in Berlin from 1928 to 1933 .
Life and work
Rumbold was born in 1869 as the eldest son of Sir Horace Rumbold, 8th Baronet. When his father died in 1913, he inherited his title of nobility as Baronet , of Woodhall in the County of Hertford . After attending the English elite school Eton College , Rumbold entered the British diplomatic service.
In 1889, Rumbold, a fluent man who spoke Arabic , Japanese and German in addition to his mother tongue , took over the post of British embassy attaché in The Hague , which he held until 1890. He then took up positions in Cairo , Tehran , Vienna and Munich . From 1909 to 1913 he worked in Tokyo and from 1913 to 1914, until the outbreak of the First World War , in Berlin. From 1916 to 1919 he was envoy in Bern . In 1919 he was envoy in Warsaw in newly formed Poland .
From 1920 to 1924 Rumbold was the British High Commissioner in Constantinople , during which time he signed the Treaty of Lausanne as a representative of the British Empire . After a post as ambassador in Madrid (1924–1928), he took over the post of British ambassador to the German Reich in 1928.
In the early 1930s he advocated a policy of appeasement by Great Britain towards the relatively moderate government of Reich Chancellor Heinrich Brüning ( Center Party ) in the hope of being able to prevent the Reich from drifting into ethnic nationalism. Numerous astute characterizations of German political conditions and protagonists can be found from this period. Rumbold, for example, characterized the German Chancellor Franz von Papen as a man who would not only tackle any obstacle at a gallop without hesitation, but would even ride detours in his thoughtless manner to find new obstacles.
After Hitler was appointed Chancellor of the Reich , Rumbold sent several dispatches to London warning of the excessiveness of the new regime and its leaders. For example, he wrote in a report: “… it would be misleading to base any hopes on a return to sanity… [the German government is encouraging an attitude of mind]… which can only end in one way… I have the impression that the Persons directing the policy of the Hitler government are not normal. ” In his reports, he called on his own government to deal with Hitler's Mein Kampf in order to be able to assess the planned policy of expansion.
After Rumbold retired in June 1933, he went through eight years of retirement. In the SeSiSo-Club , a cultural discussion group, he maintained contacts with moderate public figures. Rumbold died in 1941. At that time he was considered one of the clearest experts in British politics and Warner before the National Socialist regime, which earned him the respect for his homeland.
Works
- The War Crisis in Berlin: July to August 1914 by Horace Rumbold (London, 1944).
- Recollections of a Diplomatist vol II by Sir Horace Rumbold (1902)
- Further Recollections of a Diplomatist by Sir Horace Rumbold (1903)
- Final Recollections of a Diplomatist by Sir Horace Rumbold (1905)
- Francis Joseph and his times by Sir Horace Rumbold (1909)
Web links
- Literature by and about Horace Rumbold, 9th Baronet in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ^ The Letters of Ezra Pound to James Joyce Forrest Read, 1967, p. 151
- ^ Gordon A. Craig: Deutsche Geschichte 1866-1945. From the North German Confederation to the end of the Third Reich. 3rd edition, Beck, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-406-42106-7 , pp. 732f.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rumbold, Horace |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Rumbold, Sir Horace, 9th Baronet |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British diplomat |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 5, 1869 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | St. Petersburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 24, 1941 |