Sir Reginald Hoare
Honorific suffixKCMG
OfficeBritish Envoy to Romania
Term start1935
Term end1941
PredecessorMichael Palairet
SuccessorNo representation due to World War II
Office 1British Envoy to Persia
Term start 11931
Term end 11934
Predecessor 1Sir Robert Clive
Successor 1Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen
Birth nameReginald Hervey Hoare
Birth date19 July 1882
Birth placeMinley Manor, Hampshire
Death date12 August 1954 (aged 72)
Death placeLondon, England
EducationEton College
OccupationDiplomat, banker
ParentsCharles Hoare
Katharine Patience Georgiana Hervey
SpouseLucy Joan Cavendish-Bentinck
(m. 1922)
RelationsLord Arthur Hervey (grandfather)

Sir Reginald Hervey Hoare KCMG (19 July 1882 – 12 August 1954) was a British diplomat and banker.

Early life

Hoare was born on 19 July 1882 at Minley Manor in Hampshire. Rex, as he was known,[1] was the fourth son, in a family of four sons and three daughters, of Katharine Patience Georgiana Hervey and Charles Hoare (1844–1898), senior partner of C. Hoare & Co.[2] His maternal grandparents were the former Patience Singleton and Lord Arthur Hervey, the Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1869 to 1894 (who was the fourth son of Frederick Hervey, 1st Marquess of Bristol).[3]

Through his father, he was a descendant of King Henry VII.[4]

Hoare was educated at Eton College.[2]

Career

After joining the diplomatic service in 1905, he served as diplomat to Bucharest, Constantinople (now known as Istanbul in Turkey), Rome, Cairo, Peking (today known as Beijing), and Petrograd (today known as Saint Petersburg).[5] While in Russia, he replaced Francis Oswald Lindley and served under British consul, Douglas Young.[6]

In 1931, he became Envoy Extraordinary and Minister plenipotentiary to Persia in Tehran, serving until 1934. In 1934, he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister plenipotentiary to Romania and began serving in 1935.[7][8] Following King Carol's abdication in 1940, Hoare was withdrawn from Romania in 1941;[9] he retired in 1942.[2] Upon his exit from Rumania, the Italian newspaper Il Giornale d'Italia wrote:[9]

"Hoare [Sir Reginald Hoare, British Minister to Rumania] goes without leaving any regret. On the contrary, if anything follows his flight it will be the maledictions of the widows and orphans of Rumanian workers whose lives were barbarously and uselessly sacrificed in the numerous and disastrous attempts at acts of sabotage carried out in the oil fields by British agents working under the personal direction of Hoare."[9]

After his retirement from the government, he joined C. Hoare & Co., the family bank as a partner in 1944.[10]

Personal life

In 1922, he married Lucy Joan Cavendish-Bentinck (1889–1971), the elder daughter of William George Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck and Ruth Cavendish Bentinck.[11] Lucy's grandfathers were Ferdinand Seymour, Earl St. Maur (son of Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset) and the Rt. Hon. George Cavendish-Bentinck (grandson of William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland). Lucy's brothers, Ferdinand and Victor, were the 8th and 9th Duke of Portland, respectively. Together, Reginald and Lucy were the parents of one child:

He lived at Pine Crest in Hawley and at 80 Harley House on Marylebone Road in London. Sir Reginald died in London on 12 August 1954.[10]

References

  1. ^ "Manuscript of the Month". hoaresbank.co.uk. C. Hoare & Co. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  2. ^ "Hoare, Sir Reginald Hervey (1882–1954), diplomatist | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33897
  3. ^ Walford, Edward (1893). The Windsor Peerage for 1890–1894. p. 74. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  4. ^ Ranieval, The Marquis of Ruvigny and (2013). The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: The Mortimer-Percy Volume. Heritage Books. p. 335. ISBN 9780788418723. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  5. ^ "Sir Reginald Hervey Hoare". npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  6. ^ Poole, DeWitt Clinton (2014). An American Diplomat in Bolshevik Russia. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 239. ISBN 9780299302245. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  7. ^ The Peerage.com
  8. ^ "RUMANIA REBUFFS BRITAIN ON PROTEST; Rejects Charges on Arrests as Another Briton Is Kidnapped in Bucharest ENVOY CALLS A MEETING Sir Reginald Hoare in Secret Talk With Aides—Cruelty to Prisoners Reported". The New York Times. 4 October 1940. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  9. ^ Times, Telephone To the New York (13 February 1941). "ITALY SILENT ON BALKANS; Only Comment Is Rumanians Won't Miss British Envoy". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  10. ^ "Sir Reginald Hoare, British Diplomat, 72". The New York Times. 13 August 1954. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  11. ^ "A marriage is arranged". The Observer. 22 October 1922. p. 11. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  12. ^ "Joseph Andrew Christopher Hoare, who died 5 January, 2002, aged 76, was a kinsman of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.". 2002.