Ralph Paget

Infobox Ambassador
honorific-prefix =Sir
name =Ralph Spencer Paget
honorific-suffix =KCMG, CVO


imagesize =
order =1^st
ambassador_from =United Kingdom
country =Brazil
term_start =1918
term_end =1920
predecessor =Mission upgraded
successor =Sir John Tilley
minister_from2 =United Kingdom
country2 =Denmark
term_start2 =1916
term_end2 =1918
predecessor2 =Sir Henry Lowther
successor2 =Sir Charles Marling
minister_from3 =United Kingdom
country3 =the Kingdom of Serbia
term_start3 =1910
term_end3 =1913
predecessor3 =Sir James Beethom Whitehead
successor3 =Sir Charles des Graz
minister_from4 =United Kingdom
country4 =Siam
term_start4 =1904
term_end4 =1909
predecessor4 =Sir Reginald Tower
successor4 =Arthur Peel
birth_date =26 November, 1864
birth_place =
death_date =death date and age|1940|5|11|1864|11|26
death_place =St. Raphael, France
nationality =British
party =
otherparty =
spouse =Dame Leila Paget
partner =
relations =Sir Augustus Paget, Sir Arthur Paget
children =
residence =Warren House, Kingston upon Thames
alma_mater =Eton College
occupation =
profession =Diplomat
religion =Church of England

Sir Ralph Spencer Paget, KCMG, CVO (26 November, 1864 – 11 May, 1940) was a diplomat in the British Foreign Service, culminating in his appointment as Ambassador to Brazil in 1918. He did varied service throughout the world, and is perhaps best remembered for his relief work in Serbia before and during the First World War.

Early life and career

Ralph Spencer Paget was born on 26 November, 1864, the third child and second son of Augustus Paget, also a career diplomat. His great-uncle, who died ten years before his birth, was the legendary Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey who had led the cavalry at Waterloo, and his uncle was the distinguished naval officer Lord Clarence Paget. He was educated at Eton College, where he won the Prince Consort's prize for German.Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=Sir Ralph Paget |author= |section=Obituaries |day_of_week=Monday |date=13 May, 1940 |page_number=9 |issue=48614 |column=E ] He shone at rowing, being part of the winning "Novice Eight" in 1881, which also won in the Procession of Boats on 4 June of that year and later in the "House Four". [cite book |title=The Eton Boating Book, 3rd Edition ] After finishing school he studied abroad, becoming an "Arabic and Turkish scholar"Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=Foreign Service Appointment |author= |section=Official Appointments and Notices |day_of_week=Friday |date=15 August, 1913 |page_number=6 |issue=40291 |column=C ] before being nominated in April, 1888 attaché in the Foreign Service and sent to Vienna to serve with his father, the Ambassador to Austria-Hungary. In the autumn of 1889 he was sent to Egypt to work with Sir Evelyn Baring, the British Agent and Consul-General, who was in effect the "de facto" ruler of the country. While there he "gained an insight into the realities of administrative reform" while Baring introduced his financial reforms.

He was dispatched in 1891 to Zanzibar, recently exchanged with Heligoland, and worked with General Gerald Portal (the colonial commissioner) to promote the "the first beginnings of European civilisation in the East of Africa". In June, 1892 he was sent to the British mission in Washington, DC where he stayed for only a year. In June, 1893 he then joined the legation in Tokyo, where he served as "chargé d'affaires", where he served for six years. In 1895 he was promoted to Second Secretary. He made such a good impression that upon his arrival the Japanese journal "Nichi Nichi Shimbun" wrote;

At the beginning of his service in Tokyo the First Secretary was Gerard Lowther, later one of the architects of the "Entente Cordiale" was considered to be acceptable neither to the Chinese or Japanese lobbies at the time of the Sino-Japanese War and there relied heavily on his subordinates, Paget included. [cite book |title=Ralph Paget |last=Antić |pages=p.19 ] He then served for five years under Sir Ernest Satow who took over in Tokyo.

In 1901 Paget was sent to the legation in Guatemala as "chargé d'affaires", though with much increased responsibility as neighbouring Nicaragua came under his legation's jurisdiction also. [cite book |title=Ralph Paget |last=Antić |pages=p.21 ] The primary motivation of the diplomatic staff was economic, protecting British interests in Central America. He was kept busy, and saw varied service in the two countries. In a 1901 official visit to Nicaragua, his modesty was offended by the fact that every time he visited a town, he was greeted by brass bands playing the National Anthem. Despite his diplomatic bearing he felt compelled to ask that the practice cease. [ibid.] He did good work in Central America, although he was not "able to tolerate" either the Guatemalans or the oppressive weather. In September, 1902 he was promoted and appointed "chargé d'affaires" at the Bangkok legation in the Kingdom of Siam.

ojourn in Siam

In Siam he was quickly put in "de facto" charge of the legation due to the recall of the Minister, Sir Reginald Tower. The climate was no better than Guatemala, and the Foreign Office had trouble filling the post for two years. Eventually, it was decided that after a period as First Secretary to the Legation from March, 1904 Paget would become Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in November at the age of forty. Upon taking charge in Bangkok he tried to have the Legation (built 1876) moved to land at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club due to its nearness to the river and generally unfavourable position. However the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Works refused to allocate funds and the project was eclipsed by first Paget's own work, and after his departure by the First World War. [cite web |url=http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1065714415142 |title=History of the British Embassy, Bangkok |accessdate=2008-03-18 |format=HTML |work= ]

During his tenure he had to deal with German economic encroachment in Siam and try and negotiate a new standard in Anglo-Siamese relations. The status of British nationals in Siam had to be addressed, along with a long-running dispute over the lengthy Siamese-Malay border and the construction of a Bangkok-Singapore railway. Paget was able to deal with all of these issues and brooked no opposition either from London or Bangkok. The Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 led to four tributary Siamese states coming under autonomous British control as the Unfederated Malay States, while Britain recognised Siamese control of four other states, officially demarcating a border which remains today between Thailand and Malaysia. Under the terms of the treaty, signed in March, 1909, Britain also undertook to build a railway between the two spheres of influence.

Back to Europe

While laying the groundwork for this eventual success, in 1907 Paget married his younger cousin, Louisa Margaret Leila Wemyss Paget (1881–1958), daughter of General Arthur Paget. In the same year he was made a Companion of the Royal Victorian Order. In 1908 he was seriously considered for the position of British Ambassador to the German Empire in succession to Frank Lascelles. [cite book |title=King Edward VII |last=Lee |pages=p. 619 ] Instead he was dispatched to Munich to become the Minister Resident in the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Kingdom of Württemberg. His work there was relatively light, all major diplomatic intercourse taking place at the consulate in Berlin. In recognition of his services in Siam, Paget was promoted Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George in the King's Birthday Honours for 1909 and knighted. [Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=Birthday Honours |author= |section=Official Appointments and Notices |day_of_week=Friday |date=25 June 1909 |page_number=9 |issue=38995 |column=A ]

Despite being popular in his new position, Paget managed to alienate the Permanent Under-Secretary back in Whitehall, Sir Charles Hardinge with his "mild" reports. [cite book |title=British Foreign Policy |last=Steiner pages=p.25 ] [cite book |title=Ralph Paget |last=Antić pages=p. 26 ] He would only be able to return to work at the Foreign Office in 1913, when Hardinge had been ennobled and made Viceroy of India. [cite book |title=The Foreign Office and Foreign Policy |last=Steiner pages=p. 102 ] In July, 1910 Paget was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Belgrade, being succeeded in Munich by Sir Vincent Corbett. In an unusual move, the new British king, George V, wrote a letter to the Prince Regent of Bavaria personally informing him of Sir Ralph's departure from Germany. [King George V to the Prince Regent of Bavaria, London, 30 July 1910, FO 149/143.] The news of Paget's promotion to Minister to Serbia was announced in "The Times" on 5 August 1910. [Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=Diplomatic Appointments |section=Official Appointments and Notices |day_of_week=Friday |date=5 August 1910 |page_number=11 |issue=39343 |column=E ]

Minister in Serbia

Paget arrived in Serbia on 21 September, 1910 [cite book |title=Ralph Paget |last=Antić |pages:p.34 ] and presented his credentials to King Petar three days later. [Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=Court Circular |author= |section=Court and Social |day_of_week=Monday |date=26 September, 1910 |page_number=11 |issue=39387 |column=A ]

Return to England

In August, 1913 Paget was called back to England and appointed an Assistant Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in succession to Sir Louis Mallet. [Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=Foreign Office Appointment |author= |section=Official Appointments and Notices |day_of_week=Friday |date=15 August, 1913 |page_number=6 |issue=40291 |column=C ]

War services

Denmark

Brazil

On 26 September, 1918 it was announced that the Legation in Rio de Janeiro was being upgraded to an Embassy and that Paget had been approved by the King to be the first Envoy Extraordinary and Ambassador Plenipotentiary to Brazil. [Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=First Ambassador to Brazil |author= |section=News in Brief |day_of_week=Thursday |date=26 September, 1918 |page_number=7 |issue=41905 |column=B ] His departure was delayed however by being a permanent official of the British delegation to the Paris Peace Conference with responsibility for the Balkans. Most of the salient points of the Paget-Tyrrell Memorandum for the distribution of Central and Eastern Europe were eventually adopted. On 18 August, 1919 he was sworn a member of the Privy Council before finally taking up his appointment in Brazil. [Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=Court Circular |author= |section=Official Appointments and Notices |day_of_week=Monday |date=18 August, 1919 |page_number=10 |issue=42181 |column=C ] He arrived in Rio in style, having been transported from the West Indies, where he had "been employed on a special mission" [Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=H.M.S. Renown |author= |section=News |day_of_week=Wednesday |date=17 September, 1919 |page_number=10 |issue=42207 |column=C ] being transported in the battle cruiser HMS "Renown", arriving on 2 October. [Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=Imperial and Foreign News |author= |section=News |day_of_week=Friday |date=3 October, 1919 |page_number=7 |issue=42221 |column=E ] On 8 October he was officially received by President Pessoa.

He spent only a year in Brazil though, despite being a success there, being awarded the honorary presidency of the British Chamber of Commerce in Brazil. Before he had been appointed to the post, he had written to a friend; "What I really long for in my innermost heart is an old cotton shirt, an old pair of pants, a good horse and open prairie or desert." In conversation with Sir John Tilley, who at the time Assistant Secretary at the Foreign Office, he was reminded that his ultimate ambition had been to become an ambassador. Paget responded that the goal was fulfilled as soon as the appointment was made. His plan to increase British immigration in Brazil was thwarted by the Overseas Settlement Office. Eventually recurring bad health and a bout of depression forced him to tender his resignation in August, 1920.

Retirement

After 1920 Sir Ralph Paget lived a further twenty years in the obscurity of private life. At last, he managed to take care of his health. Despite his neutral benevolence while he occupied the post in Belgrade, along with Lady Paget’s large-scale humanitarian work during the wars, it appears that the Serbian public, too preoccupied in the tense inter-war years, virtually forgot the Pagets. Nevertheless, Lady Paget never forgot Serbia. When in October 1934 the Yugoslav King Aleksandar I was assassinated, she visited Belgrade and was present at his funeral. Paget passed away on 10 May, 1940 while in Saint-Raphaël, France.

His widow, Dame Leila Paget continued to be actively interested in the Balkans. With the German invasion of Yugoslavia and the influx of Yugoslavian exiles into Britain, Dame Leila did all she could to assist those in need, including selling her estate in Surrey. She died at Kingston upon Thames on 24 September, 1958.

Paget's memory was recalled, if incorrectly, in Brazil where he served for only a year and a half. An episode in a recent television soap-opera involved Paget in a fictitious search for Colonel Percy Fawcett, who disappeared in the Amazon jungle in 1925. Erring, the screenplay writer placed the event in 1944, when Sir Ralph had already been dead for four years.

Citations

Reference list

*cite book |title=Ralph Paget: A Diplomat in Serbia |last=Antić |first=Čedomir |year=2006 |publisher=Institute for Balkan Studies SASA |location=Belgrade
*cite book |title=King Edward VII, Vol. II |last=Lee |first=Sir Sidney |authorlink=Sidney Lee |year=1927 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London
*cite book |title=British Foreign Policy under Sir Edward Grey |last=Steiner |first=Zara S. |editor=Hinsley, F.H. |year=1977 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge
*cite book |title=The Foreign Office and Foreign Policy, 1898-1914 |last=Steiner |first=Zara S. |year=1969 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0521076544

Persondata
NAME = Paget, Sir Ralph Spencer
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Leading British Diplomat in the Edwardian Era
DATE OF BIRTH = 26 November 1864
PLACE OF BIRTH =
DATE OF DEATH = 10 May 1940
PLACE OF DEATH = Saint-Raphaël, France