Arthur Nicolson, 1st Baron Carnock

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

• The London Gazette: no. 27329. p. 4399. 2 July 1901.
• "Court and Social". The Times (36493). London. 28 June 1901. p. 10.