Lionel Edward Gresley Carden

Sir Lionel Edward Gresley Carden
Born September 15, 1851(1851-09-15)
Died October 16, 1915(1915-10-16) (aged 64)

Sir Lionel Edward Gresley Carden, KCMG (15 September 1851 - 16 October 1915) was a British diplomat.[1]

Biography

He was born on 15 September 1851 to Reverend Lionel Carden and Lucy Lawrence Ottley. He was the son of Reverend Lionel Carden and Lucy Lawrence Ottley. He married Anne Eliza Lefferts, daughter of John Lefferts, on 15 February 1881.

Lionel Carden played a central part in an extraordinary plot by Lord Salisbury, then prime minister, to foil Parnell’s remarkably successful Home Rule campaign in the 1880s by attempting to prove Parnell’s complicity in criminal activities.[2] Salisbury sought to imply that Parnell encouraged the Phoenix Park murders in 1882, and that he was linked to the dynamite outrages in England which culminated in a bomb in the House of Commons in 1887, the year of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. These claims were ultimately disproved in a dramatic hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in 1889. The principal organiser of the outrages was a certain General Millen who became chairman of the military arm of the American activists. What was kept secret was that in 1885 Lionel Carden, then acting chargé d'affaires at HM Legation in Mexico, interviewed General Millen and with government approval recruited him as a spy, and became his paymaster. Through intermediaries General Millen was directed by Lord Salisbury to ensure that the dynamite explosions continued, thereby creating public outrage against Irish nationalists and Parnell. General Millen met Lionel Carden again in 1888 with an offer, for a very large sum of money, to appear as a witness at the hearing mentioned above, which was about to take place.

He was inducted into the Order of St Michael and St George in 1912. In 1913 he was recalled from Mexico after his criticism of Woodrow Wilson.[3][4]

He died on 16 October 1915 in London at age 64, without issue.[1][4]

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
 British Ministers Resident in Cuba
1902-1905		 Succeeded by
Arthur Grant Duff
Preceded by
22 Nov 1890: Sir Audley Charles Gosling		 British Ambassador to Guatemala
1905-1913		 Succeeded by
1963–1964: Sir Robert Isaacson
Preceded by
Francis Stronge		 British Ambassador to Mexico
1913-january 1914		 Succeeded by
1925: de:Esmond Ovey

References

  1. ^ a b "Sir Lionel Edward Gresley Carden". The Peerage. http://thepeerage.com/p36306.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-28. "Sir Lionel Edward Gresley Carden was born on 15 September 1851. ..." 
  2. ^ Christy Campbell. "Fenian Fire: The British government plot to assassinate Queen Victoria." Harper Collins, London, 2002. ISBN 0 00 710483 9
  3. ^ "His Lack of Sympathy with Wilson's Policy Is Plain.". New York Times. October 25, 1913. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9404E6DC1E3BE633A25756C2A9669D946296D6CF. Retrieved 2010-02-28. "Press criticisms of the recent utterances of Sir Lionel Carden regarding Washington's lack of understanding of conditions in Mexico do not appear to have much affected the British Minister to Mexico. He seemed to-day to regard the matter as an unwarranted controversy, with which he declined to have anything to do." 
  4. ^ a b "Sir Lionel Carden Dead In London. British Minister Was Recalled From Mexico After His Criticism Of President Wilson. Forced Out By Carranza. He Also Incurred Displeasure of United States While Serving in Cuba. Diplomat 38 Years". New York Times. October 17, 1915. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F03EFD6103CE733A25754C1A9669D946496D6CF. Retrieved 2010-02-28.