Sir Frank Cavendish Lascelles (23 March 1841 – 2 January 1920) was a British diplomat. He served as Ambassador to both Russia and Germany.

Background and education

Lascelles was born in London, the fifth son of William Lascelles, himself the third son of Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood. His mother was Lady Caroline Howard, daughter of

George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle (17 September 17737 October 1848), styled Viscount Morpeth until 1825, was a British statesman. He served as Lord Privy Seal between 1827 and 1828 and in 1834 and was a member of Lord Grey's Whig government ...

. He was educated at Harrow and joined the

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtain diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

in 1861.

Diplomatic career

Lascelles served in junior positions at the British embassies in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Paris, Rome, Washington, D.C., and

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. He was trained in the diplomatic service by

Richard Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons, 1st Earl Lyons (26 April 1817 – 5 December 1887) was a British diplomat, who was the favourite diplomat of Queen Victoria, during the four great crises of the second half of the 19th century: Italian unificat ...

, and was a member of the

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

-sympathetic 'Lyons School' of British diplomacy. Lascelles was

Consul-General A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

in Egypt from 20 March to 10 October 1879, during the last years of the reign of

Khedive Khedive ( ; ; ) was an honorific title of Classical Persian origin used for the sultans and grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire, but most famously for the Khedive of Egypt, viceroy of Egypt from 1805 to 1914.Adam Mestyan"Khedive" ''Encyclopaedi ...

Isma'il Pasha Isma'il Pasha ( ; 25 November 1830 or 31 December 1830 – 2 March 1895), also known as Ismail the Magnificent, was the Khedive of Egypt and ruler of Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of Great Britain and France. Shari ...

. In 1879 Lascelles became Consul-General in Bulgaria, which had been an autonomous principality since the Treaty of Berlin of 1878. He remained in Bulgaria until 1887, and was then Minister (similar to ambassador) to Romania from 1887 to 1891 and to

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

from 1891 to 1894, where his niece

Gertrude Bell Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist. She spent much of her life exploring and mapping the Middle East, and became highly inf ...

visited him, starting a lifelong passion for travel. He served briefly as Ambassador to Russia between 1894 and 1895, but in the latter year he was appointed to succeed Sir Edward Malet as Ambassador to Germany. His tenure in Berlin saw the growing estrangement between Germany and the UK, and Lascelles notably had to deal with the effects of the Kruger telegram only days after his arrival. His relationship with

Emperor Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as the Hohenzollern dynasty's ...

was always cordial but he was known to resent the policies of Chancellor

Bernhard von Bülow Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin, Prince of Bülow ( ; 3 May 1849 – 28 October 1929) was a German politician who served as the chancellor of the German Empire, imperial chancellor of the German Empire and minister-president of Prussia from 1900 to ...

. He resigned as ambassador in 1908 but continued to exercise influence over Anglo-German relations up until the First World War. Lascelles was knighted KCMG in 1886, promoted to

GCMG The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

in 1892, appointed GCB in 1897, and

GCVO The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

in 1904 following

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

's meeting with

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

. He was admitted to the Privy Council in 1894.

Family

In 1869 Lascelles married Mary Emma Olliffe (1845–1897), daughter of Sir Joseph Olliffe who was physician to the British Embassy in Paris. They had three children: *William Frank Lascelles (21 March 1863 – 8 March 1913), married Lady Sybil Beauclerk (1871–1910), daughter of

William Beauclerk, 10th Duke of St Albans William Amelius Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, 10th Duke of St Albans, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC Deputy Lieutenant, DL (15 April 1840 – 10 May 1898), Courtesy title, styled Earl of Burford until 1849, was a British people, Br ...

. They were the parents of

Mary Montagu Douglas Scott, Duchess of Buccleuch (Vreda Esther) Mary Montagu Douglas Scott, Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry (17 September 1900 – 9 February 1993), was the elder of the two daughters of Maj. William Frank Lascelles, the son of diplomat Frank Lascelles (23 March 1841 – ...

. *Gerald Claud Lascelles (19 July 1869 – 26 June 1919), married Cecil Raffo. *Florence Caroline Lascelles (27 January 1876 – 9 December 1961), married Sir Cecil Spring Rice. Lascelles survived his wife by over twenty years and died in 1920, aged 78. He is buried in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is since 1852 the first (and only) London cemetery to be Crown Estate, Crown property, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington a ...

, London.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

The Papers of Sir Frank Lascelles
held at

Churchill Archives Centre The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lascelles, Frank 1841 births 1920 deaths Frank People educated at Harrow School Consuls-general for Great Britain in Egypt Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Romania Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Iran Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Russian Empire Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Germany Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Burials at Brompton Cemetery