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Revision as of 15:05, 18 June 2007 by David Lauder (talk | contribs) (→Bibliography: 'for')(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale GCVO, KCB (24 February 1837-17 August 1916), of Batsford Park, Gloucestershire, and Birdhope Craig, Northumberland, was a British diplomat, collector and writer.
Mitford was the son of Henry Reveley Mitford and the great-grandson of William Mitford, and was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. He entered the Foreign Office in 1858, and was appointed third secretary of Embassy in St Petersburg. After service in the Diplomatic Corps in Peking, Mitford went to Japan as second secretary to the British Legation. There he met Ernest Satow and wrote Tales of Old Japan (1871) - a book credited with making such classical Japanese tales as that of the Forty-seven Ronin first known to a wide Western public. He resigned in 1873.
From 1874 to 1886 Mitford acted as secretary to HM Office of Works and from 1887 he was a member of the Royal Commission on Civil Services. He also sat as Member of Parliament for Stratford-on-Avon between 1892 and 1895. In 1886 Mitford inherited the substantial estates of his first cousin twice removed, John Freeman-Mitford, 1st Earl of Redesdale. In accordance with the will he assumed by Royal license the additional surname of Freeman. In 1902 the Redesdale title was revived when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Redesdale, of Redesdale in the County of Northumberland.
Lord Redesdale married Lady Clementina Gertrude Helen, daughter of David Graham Drummond Ogilvy, 10th Earl of Airlie, in 1874. They had five sons and four daughters. He died in August 1916, aged 79, and was succeeded in the barony by his second but eldest surviving son David, who was the father of the famous Mitford sisters. Lady Redesdale died in 1932.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byFrederick Townsend | Member of Parliament for Stratford-on-Avon 1892–1895 |
Succeeded byVictor Milward |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded byNew Creation | Baron Redesdale 1902–1916 |
Succeeded byDavid Bertram Ogilvy Freeman-Mitford |
See also
- Hugh Cortazzi, Mitford's Japan : Memories and Recollections, 1866-1906, Format: Paperback, Published: January 2003, ISBN 1-903350-07-7
- Anglo-Japanese relations.
Bibliography
- Tales of Old Japan (1871)
- The Bamboo Garden (1896)
- The Attaché at Peking (1900)
- Memoirs (1915)
- Little Memories (1917)
Lord Redesdale also wrote an extensive Introduction to Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, and translated, with another Introduction for Immanuel Kant, both by Houston Stewart Chamberlain.
External links
References
- Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
- www.thepeerage.com
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)
