Sir Henry Drummond-Wolff GCB, GCMG, PC (1830 – 11 October 1908) was an English diplomat and Conservative Party politician, who started as a clerk in the Foreign Office.[1]
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Wolff was the son of Georgiana Mary (née Walpole) and Joseph Wolff.[2][3] His father was a missionary who had been born Jewish, and his mother a descendant of Prime Minister Robert Walpole.
Drummond Wolff sat in parliament for Christchurch from 1874 to 1880 and for Portsmouth from 1880 to 1885. Whilst MP for Christchurch he lived in Boscombe, where he developed the Boscombe Spa estate, and he played an active role in the public life of Bournemouth. In 1870 presented the Bournemouth Rowing Club with a four oared racing galley. He was one of the group known as the Fourth Party.
In 1885 he went on a special mission to Constantinople and Egypt in connection with the Eastern Question,[4] and as a result various awkward difficulties, hinging on the Sultan's suzerainty, were addressed. Wolff negotiated a settlement whereby Britain and Turkey would each appoint a commissioner to Egypt to help the khedive's government conduct reforms of the army and the government. Wolff then assumed the role of British high commissioner in Egypt from 1885[5] to 1887. He was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Teheran in 1888, a post he held until 1891, and was then Ambassador to Madrid from 1892 to 1900.
Drummond Wolff was a notable raconteur, and he did good service to the Conservative Party by helping to found the Primrose League. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1862 for various services abroad. He was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in 1878 and made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in 1889.
Drummond Wolff's only daughter, Lucas Cleeve, was a novelist.[6] His grandson, Henry Maxence Cavendish Drummond Wolff, was briefly the Conservative Member of Parliament for Basingstoke.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Edmund Haviland-Burke |
Member of Parliament for Christchurch 1874 – 1880 |
Succeeded by Horace Davey |
| Preceded by Thomas Charles Bruce Sir James Dalrymple-Horn-Elphinstone, Bt |
Member of Parliament for Portsmouth 1880 – 1885 With: Thomas Charles Bruce |
Succeeded by Sir William Crossman Philip Vanderbyl |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by – |
High Commissioner to Egypt 1885–1887 |
Succeeded by – |
| Preceded by Ronald Ferguson Thomson |
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary 1888–1891 |
Succeeded by Sir Frank Lascelles |
| Preceded by Sir Clare Ford |
Ambassador to Spain 1892–1900 |
Succeeded by Sir Mortimer Durand |