Arthur Nicolson, 1st Baron Carnock

The Right Honourable Arthur Nicolson, 1st Baron Carnock GCB, GCMG, GCVO, KCIE
File:Arthur Nicolson.jpg Arthur Nicolson, 1st Baron Carnock
British Ambassador to Spain
In office 1904–1905
Monarch	Alfonso XIII of Spain
Preceded by	Edwin Henry Egerton
Succeeded by	Maurice William Ernest de Bunsen
British Ambassador to Russia
In office 1906–1910
Monarch	Nicholas II of Russia
Preceded by	Sir Charles Hardinge
Succeeded by	Sir George Buchanan
Personal details
Born	19 September 1849
Died	5 November 1928
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Mary Katherine Hamilton
Children	Frederick Archibald Nicolson (1883-1952) Erskine Nicolson (1884–1982) Harold Nicolson (1886-1968)
Alma mater	Oxford University
Occupation	Diplomat

Arthur Nicolson, 1st Baron Carnock, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, KCIE (19 September 1849–5 November 1928), known as Sir Arthur Nicolson, 11th Baronet, from 1899 to 1916, was a British diplomat and politician during the last quarter of the 19th century to the middle of World War I.

Early life

He was the eldest son of Admiral Sir Frederick Nicolson, 10th Baronet by his wife Mary Loch. Educated at Rugby and Brasenose College, Oxford, where he left without taking a degree, he succeeded his father as Baronet in 1899.

Career summary

• Foreign Office, 1870–74;
• Author of the History of the German Constitution, 1873.
• Secretary to Earl Granville, 1872–74;
• Embassy at Berlin, 1874–76;
• at Peking, 1876–78;
• Chargé, Athens, 1884–85;
• Teheran, 1885–88;
• Consul-General, Budapest, 1888–93;
• Embassy, Constantinople, 1894;
• Minister at Tangiers, 1895–1904;
• Ambassador, Madrid, 1904-5;
• Ambassador, Saint Petersburg, 1906–10;
• Permanent Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, 1910-16.

In 1916 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Carnock, of Carnock in the County of Stirling.

Family

Nicolson married, in 1882, Mary Katherine Hamilton, daughter of Captain Archibald Rowan Hamilton, of Killyleagh Castle, Co. Down, and thus a descendant of Archibald Hamilton Rowan (1751-1834). They had three sons, Frederick Archibald Nicolson (1883-1952), who succeeded him as 2nd Baron Carnock; Erskine Nicolson (1884 – 1982), who became the 3rd Baron Carnock; and Sir Harold Nicolson (1886-1968), the writer and husband of Vita Sackville-West.

Honours

• CMG: Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George - 1886
• KCIE: Knight Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire - 1888
• KCB: Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath - invested 27 June 1901, gazetted 2 July 1901 - on the occasion of the visit to the UK of a Special diplomatic mission from Morocco
• KCVO: Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order - 1903
• GCVO: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order - 1905
• GCMG: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George - 1906
• GCB: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath - 1907

External links

• The Mirrors of Downing Street by Harold Begbie at Project Gutenberg, 1921, by Harold Begbie, at Project Gutenberg

Government offices
Preceded by The Lord Hardinge of Penshurst	Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs 1910–1916	Succeeded by The Lord Hardinge of Penshurst
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by New Creation	Baron Carnock	Succeeded by Frederick Archibald Nicolson
Baronetage of Nova Scotia
Preceded by Sir Frederick Nicolson	Baronet (of Carnock) 1899–1929	Succeeded by Frederick Archibald Nicolson