Algernon Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale

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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. Nicknamed "Barty", he was the paternal grandfather of the Mitford sisters.

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[edit] Early years

He was the son of Henry Reveley Mitford of Exbury House, Exbury, Hampshire and the great-grandson of William Mitford, and was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. While his paternal ancestors were Landed gentry whose holdings included Mitford Castle in Northumberland, his mother (Georgiana) Jemima was a daughter of the well-connected Earl of Ashburnham, with a very noble ancestry. His parents separated in 1840 when Redesdale was just three years old.

[edit] Career

He entered the Foreign Office in 1858, and was appointed Third Secretary of the British 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. In 1906 he accompanied Prince Arthur on a visit to Japan to present the emperor with the Order of the Garter, and was asked about Japanese ceremonies that had since disappeared.

From 1874 to 1886 Mitford acted as secretary to HM Office of Works, involved in the restoration of the Tower of London and landscaping parts of Hyde Park such as 'The Dell'. 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. He substantially rebuilt Batsford House in Gloucestershire in the Victorian Gothic style.

In 1902 the Redesdale title was revived when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Redesdale, of Redesdale in the County of Northumberland.

In his closing years Lord Redesdale translated into English, edited, and wrote extensive effusive Introductions of two of Houston Stewart Chamberlain's books: Foundations of the Nineteenth Century and Immanuel Kant - A Study and Comparison with Goethe, Leonardo da Vinci, Bruno, Plato, and Descartes, published by John Lane at the Bodley Head, London, in 1910 and 1914.

[edit] Marriage

Lord Redesdale married in 1874 Lady Clementina Gertrude Helen (d. 1932), the daughter of David Graham Drummond Ogilvy, 10th Earl of Airlie by his spouse Blanche, the daughter of Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley. They had five sons and four daughters, of whom:


Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Frederick Townsend		 Member of Parliament for Stratford-on-Avon
1892–1895		 Succeeded by
Victor Milward
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
New Creation		 Baron Redesdale
1902–1916		 Succeeded by
David Bertram Ogilvy Freeman-Mitford

[edit] See also

[edit] Bibliography

Wikisource
Wikisource has original works written by or about:
  • Tales of Old Japan (1871)
  • The Bamboo Garden (1896)
  • The Attaché at Peking (1900)
  • The Garter Mission to Japan (1906)
  • Memoirs (1915; 2 vols)
  • Further Memories (Hutchinson & Co., London, 1917)

Lord Redesdale also wrote an extensive Introduction [1] to Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, and translated, with another Introduction for Immanuel Kant, both by Houston Stewart Chamberlain.

[edit] External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

[edit] References

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