Arthur James Herbert (diplomat)

Sir Arthur Herbert, GCVO (22 August 1855 – 31 August 1921) was a British diplomat who served as the first British envoy to Norway.

Career

Herbert was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and joined the Diplomatic Service in 1879. In the early years of his service, he was posted at Petrograd, Washington, D.C., Buenos Aires, Tehran, Brussels, Bern, Stockholm and Copenhagen. In August 1902, he was appointed Consul-General at Budapest,[1][2] and the following year he became chargé d'affaires at Darmstadt (Hesse) and Karlsruhe (Baden). He received official allowances for knowledge of Russian and Persian and spoke five other languages fluently.[3]

After the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905, Herbert was appointed the first British envoy to the newly independent Norway, with the then-customary title of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.[4] He was the first foreign envoy to arrive in Christiania (now Oslo) after the recognition of Norway as an independent state by foreign powers.[3]

The Villa Frognæs in 1935

Shortly afterwards he bought the Villa Frognæs, built in 1859 for the banker Thomas Heftye and recognized as one of the finest private residences in the city, to be the British Legation. The Foreign Office had strongly recommended a rental property, but Herbert argued that with the new Norwegian king, Haakon VII, married to a British princess, it was imperative for Britain to establish a first-class legation there, and the British Treasury approved the purchase early in 1906.[5] The Villa Frognæs remains the official residence of the British Ambassador, but new offices have been built behind the house, facing Thomas Heftyes gate, to house the embassy.

Herbert was appointed envoy to Mexico in 1911 but did not proceed and instead retired from the diplomatic service.

Personal life
Harriet Ives Gammell, age 6, Helen Louise Gammell, age 3

Sir Arthur James Herbert married Harriet Ives Gammell, from Providence, the daughter of William Gammell, a professor at Brown University. She was a direct descendant of the Ives family of Providence and also of Nicholas Brown, since Nicholas Brown's daughter married Thomas Ives in the 18th century.

Honours

Herbert was appointed CVO in 1905,[6] knighted KCVO on his appointment to Norway[7] and raised to GCVO in 1908 on the occasion of a state visit by King Edward VII to Norway.[8]

References
  1. "Diplomatic appointmnets". The Times (36857). London. 27 August 1902. p. 7.
  2. "No. 27473". The London Gazette. 12 September 1902. p. 5887.
  3. The Times, 1 September 1921, page 13
  4. "No. 27859". The London Gazette. 1 December 1905. p. 8645.
  5. Mark Bertram, Room for Diplomacy: Britain's Diplomatic Buildings Overseas 1800-2000, Spire Books, 2011
  6. "No. 27761". The London Gazette. 3 February 1905. p. 841.
  7. "No. 27856". The London Gazette. 21 November 1905. p. 7807.
  8. "No. 28135". The London Gazette. 8 May 1908. p. 3392.
Diplomatic posts
First Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the King of Norway
1905–1911		 Succeeded by
Sir Mansfeldt Findlay
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