Rowland Sperling
| Rowland Arthur Charles Sperling | |
|---|---|
| British Ambassador to Switzerland | |
|
In office 1924–1928 | |
| Preceded by | Milne Cheetham |
| British Ambassador to Bulgaria | |
|
In office 1928–1929 | |
| British Ambassador to Finland | |
|
In office 1930–1935 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
4 January 1874 London, England |
| Died | 1 August 1965 (aged 91) |
| Education | Eton |
| Alma mater | Matriculated 14 October 1890 |
| Awards | KCMG, CB |
Sir Rowland Arthur Charles Sperling KCMG CB (1874-1965) was a British diplomat.
Early life
Sperling was born in 1874 in London, England the son of Commander Rowland Money Sperling and Marian Charlotte née Keysers. He was educated at Eton College and New College Oxford in 1892.[1] He left New College in 1899 before gaining a degree to work as a clerk in the Foreign Office.[1]
Diplomat
He was sent to Russia in 1902 to learn Russian before becoming acting third secretary in St Petersburg in the Diplomatic Service. He returned to the Foreign Office in 1905 first as an assistant clerk, then a senior clerk and in 1914 Head of the Western Department.[1] He stayed in the Foreign Office during the first world war and was a attached to the Paris Peace Conference. In 1920 he represented the United Kingdom at a conference on international communications in Washington. By 1924 he was transferred to the Diplomatic Service and he was appointed Minister at Berne.[1][2] In 1928 he moved as Minister to Sofia and then Finland.[1][3] He retired from the service in 1935.[1]
Family Life
Sperling had married Dorothy Kingsmill in 1905 and they had two sons and a daughter.[1] One of the sons was killed in action during the first world war.[1] His wife died in 1951.[1]
Following retirement to Kingsclere new Newbury, from 1936 to 1949 be was a member of the county council and in 1945-1946 Sperling was High Sherrif of Hampshire.[1]
Sperling died on 8 January 1965 at his home in Wiltishire aged 91.[1]
Honours and awards
- In the 1921 Birthday Honours he was invested as a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG)
- On 3 June 1924 he was invested as a Companion of the Order of the Bath.
- In the 1934 New Year Honours, Sperling was invested as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG)
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Sir Rowland Sperling". The Times (56215). London. 9 January 1965. p. 12.
- ↑ Grossbritannien/Botschaft in Bern in the Dodis database of the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland
- ↑ C. Cook, P. Jones, J. Sinclair, Jeffrey Weeks, Sources in British Political History, 1900-1951, p. 228, Ray Jones, The nineteenth-century Foreign Office: an administrative history, London School of Economics and Political Science, 1971 - 224 pp., p. 183