Circa 1920 Lord D'Abernon, FOLEY HOUSE 8 Portland Place to General John Ponsonby
This product data sheet is originally written in English.
Letter Circa 1920 Lord D'Abernon, from his London home, FOLEY HOUSE, 8 Portland Place (Now the BBC Building) to General John Ponsonby, regarding play Golf, with a note to the last page by General Sir John Ponsonby, last page stuck down to page from Sir John Ponsonby's Autograph Album and slight rust area from an old paper clip.
Edgar Vincent, 1st Viscount D'Abernon, GCB, GCMG, PC, FRS (19 August 1857 – 1 November 1941) was a British politician, diplomat, art collector and author. His address in the 1920's was Foley House, 8 Portland Place, which he sold in 1923 and which was demolished after its sale, and BBC Broadcasting House was built on the site. Early lifeVincent was born at Slinfold, West Sussex on [2] He was the youngest son of Sir Frederick Vincent, 11th Baronet of Stoke D'Abernon (1798–1883)[2] and, his second wife, Maria Copley (d. 1899).[3] Among his older siblings were brothers Sir William Vincent, 12th Baronet and Sir Frederick d'Abernon Vincent, 15th Baronet, whom he succeeded as 16th Baronet in 1936.He was educated at Eton College for the diplomatic service. Instead, he spent five years as a member of the Coldstream Guards before coming into the service as secretary to Lord Edmond FitzMaurice, Queen's Commissioner on the East Rumelian Question.CareerVincent was appointed Commissioner for the Evacuation of Thessaly (ceded to Greece by Turkey)[2] and advised the Egyptian government on financial matters from 1883 to 1889. That year, he became governor of the Imperial Ottoman Bank.[2] One of his policies was to get the Bank involved in South African mining shares on European stock exchanges. This caused a speculation craze in Constantinople where tens of thousands of people bought South African mining shares, a lot of them with money loaned from the Ottoman Bank. This led to a run on the Bank in late 1895 and then a crash in the share values, followed by an international panic and the financial ruin of many of those who invested in the shares. Vincent, who personally made a fortune from the shares, was heavily condemned for his role in the disaster.In 1896, the banking office in Constantinople was occupied by a group of armed Armenians who threatened to destroy the building with bombs. Vincent escaped through a skylight and notified the Turkish authorities at the Sublime Porte and secured a negotiator from the Russian Embassy. The attackers agreed to surrender their bombs in exchange for safe passage to exile in France, being conducted on Sir Edgar's private vessel.Member of ParliamentIn 1899, he was elected a Conservative Member of Parliament for Exeter. He was less a true Conservative than a personal devotee of the Conservative leader, A. J. Balfour. He held the seat until losing to a Liberal in 1906. He opposed the Conservative policy of Tariff Reform and unsuccessfully stood for the Liberal Party in Colchester in December 1910. In July 1914 he was raised to the peerage as Baron D'Abernon[2] of Esher, Surrey, upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith.PolandD'Abernon was part of the Interallied Mission to Poland in July 1920, during the Polish-Soviet War. Later this experience provided material for his book The Eighteenth Decisive Battle of the World: Warsaw, 1920 (1931).Ambassador to GermanyFrom 1920 to 1925, D'Abernon was the British Ambassador to Berlin. In September 1921 he wrote that the success of the Inter-Allied Military Commission of Control, which reported on German disarmament, meant that there would be no military danger from Germany for many years and that it would be impossible for the Germans to conceal the manufacture of heavy weaponry.[5] In February 1922 he criticised the idea of a military alliance between Britain and France:The fundamental criticism...is that England undertakes definite and very extensive responsibilities in order to avoid a danger which she believes to be largely imaginary. An armed attack by Germany on France within the next twenty-five years is admittedly improbable, an attack by Germany on England in the same period even more so...the whole tone of the French is to assume that the real danger to the future peace of Europe is military aggression by Germany.On 9 February 1925 D'Abernon wrote that it was necessary "to abandon the view that Germans are such congenital liars that there is no practical advantage in obtaining from them any engagement or declaration. On this assumption progress is impossible. Personally I regard the Germans as more reliable and more bound to written engagements than many other nations".Lord Vansittart called D'Abernon "the pioneer of appeasement". General J. H. Morgan also called D'Abernon "the apostle of 'appeasement'" and claimed D'Abernon "did not believe in the possibility, much less the probability, of a German military revival". Later lifeAfter his retirement from the foreign service, D'Abernon devoted his time to directorships of numerous domestic organisations such as the Lawn Tennis Association, the Race Course Betting Control Board, the Medical Research Council, and the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, and the Royal Mint advisory committee. He was also a trustee of the National and Tate Galleries and President of the Royal Statistical Society from 1926 to 1928.Personal lifeD'Abernon married the renowned beauty Helen Venetia Duncombe, daughter of William Duncombe, 1st Earl of Feversham, in 1890. Together they shared a love of society and the fine arts, especially English painting. Both had portraits made by John Singer Sargent. She posed for hers in 1904 at their villa, the Palazzo Giustinian, in Venice. Vincent was Chairman of the royal commission on National Museums and Galleries, which published its report in 1928. The bulk of their art collection was sold at auction in 1929.[11] Two works once in their collection are in the National Gallery,[12] three at the National Gallery of Art, Washington,[13] and others at the (Mellon) Yale Center for British Art and other museums. The collection included 17th century Ottoman textiles.D'Abernon died of hypostatic pneumonia and Parkinson's disease at Hove in November 1941.[3] He had no children and the viscountcy and barony created for him therefore became extinct. There were no remaining heirs to the 1620 baronetcy and that too became extinct on his death.HonoursD'Abernon was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1887,[16] promoted to Knight Grand Cross (GCMG) in 1917,[17] and made Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in 1926.[18] He joined the Privy Council in 1920.D'Abernon was elevated to the peerage as Baron D'Abernon, of Esher in the county of Surrey, in 1914 and advanced to Viscount D'Abernon, of Esher and Stoke d'Abernon in the county of Surrey, in 1926.[21] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1934.D'Abernon succeeded his elder brother Sir Frederick D'Abernon Vincent, 15th Baronet of Stoke d'Abernon as 16th Baronet in 1936.Fresh to the Market Place, from Major-General Sir John Ponsonby's Autograph Letter Collection For more from this collection see our shop category for SIR HENRY & JOHN PONSONBY COLLECTION John Ponsonby (British Army officer)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Major-General Sir John Ponsonby KCB CMG DSO (25 March 1866 – 26 March 1952) was a British Army officer who commanded 5th Division during World War IBorn the son of Sir Henry Ponsonby (Queen Victoria's Private Secretary), his Mother Hon. Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby, Maid of Honour to Queen Victoria and a daughter of John Crocker Bulteel.His brothers were Frederick Ponsonby, ( Assistant Private Secretary to Edward VII & GV), and Arthur Augustus William Harry Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede, (British politician, writer, and social activist).His Two Sisters were Alberta Victoria Ponsonby (6 May 1862 – 15 October 1945) and Magdalen Ponsonby (24 June 1864 – 1 July 1934) AuthorSir John was educated at Eton College, He was gazetted to the Royal Irish Rifles 16 November 1887, and to the Coldstream Guards 15 August 1888, becoming Lieutenant 29 June 1891. He was ADC to the Governor and Commander-in-Chief, South Africa, 10 August 1891 to 30 January 1895; served in operations in Matabeleland (Medal); was promoted to Captain 7 September 1898, and in that year served in Uganda (Medal), and again in 1899, during the operations against Kabarega (clasp). Captain Ponsonby served in the South African War, 1899-1902, on special service with the Rhodesian Field Force, 19 February 1900 to 7 July 1901. He was Adjutant, 5th New Zealand Regiment, 8 June 1900 to 1 January 1901; afterwards in command 1 January to 18 January 1901. From February to May 1900, be was employed with Mounted Infantry, and he took part in operations in the Transvaal, west of Pretoria, from July to 29 November 1900; operations in the Transvaal, February to June 1901; operations in Cape Colony, February to 31 May 1902. He was mentioned in Despatches [London Gazette, 10 September 1901]; received the Queen's Medal with four clasps, the King's Medal with two clasps, and was created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order [London Gazette, 27 September 1901]: "John Ponsonby, Captain, Coldstream Guards. In recognition of services during the operations in South Africa". The Insignia were presented by the King 27 October 1901. He was promoted to Major 23 January 1904, and commanded the Guards' Depot 1 March 1905 to 28 February 1907. He became Lieutenant Colonel 28 October 1913.Lieutenant Colonel Ponsonby served in the European War, 1914—18; Landed in France 13th August 1914 in charge of 1st Coldstream Guards,Wounded 15th September & returned to unit 21st November. commanded the 2nd Guards Brigade, BEF, 26 August 1915 to 19 November 1916: was given the Brevet of Colonel 1 January 1916; commanded the Special Reserve Infantry Brigade 28 November 1916 to 7 March 1917; commanded the 21st Infantry Brigade, BEF, 8 March to 20 March 1917; became Colonel 20 March 1917; commanded the 2nd Guards Brigade, British Armies in France, 21 March to 21 August 1917; commanded the 40th Division, British Armies in France, 22 August 1917 to 3 July 1918; subsequently commanded the 5th Division, British Armies in France, 4 July 1918 to 1 April 1919; was promoted to Major General 1 January 1919. He was mentioned in Despatches; created a CMG in 1915, a CB in 1918, and was given the Brevet of Colonel.He went on to become General Officer Commanding 5th Division remaining in that role until the end of the War. After the War he became General Officer Commanding the Madras District of India. He retired in 1928.He lived at Haile Hall near Beckermet in Cumbria
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| Estate or House name | Foley House |
| City/Town/Village/Place | London |
| Related Interests | BBC Broadcasting House |
| Type | Political |
| Related Interests 2 | Ambassador to BERLIN |
| Surname Initial | D |
| Family Surname | Vincent |
| Signed | Yes |
| Street Location | 8 Portland Place W |
| UK Counties | Middlesex |
| Theme | Social History |
| Related Interests 1 | Golf |
| Era | Circa 1920 |
| Addressed to | General Sir John Ponsonby |
| Country | England |
| Letter From | Edgar Vincent, Lord D'Abernon |
| Document Type | Original Manuscript Letter |
| Titled Families | Edgar Vincent, 1st Viscount D'Abernon |