Sir William Edward Goschen, 1st Baronet GCB, GCMG, GCVO, PC (18 July 1847 – 20 May 1924), was a British diplomat.
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Goschen was born at Eltham, England, the twelfth child and sixth son of Wilhelm Heinrich Göschen, originally of Leipzig, Saxony, and Henrietta Ohmann, who was born in London. At the time of his birth his father was 54. The Conservative politician Lord Goschen was Goschen's elder brother. He was educated at Rugby and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He twice represented Oxford at real tennis, played five matches of first-class cricket as a right-handed batsman for the University of Oxford and throughout his life was a keen sportsman.
Goschen entered the Diplomatic Service in 1869 and after an initial few months at the Foreign Office he served in Madrid, as Third Secretary in Buenos Aires, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Constantinople, Peking, Copenhagen as secretary to the legation, (1888–1890), Lisbon as secretary to the legation, Washington (1893–1894) as secretary and Saint Petersburg (1895–1898).
Goschen was offered the Belgrade legation and took up post in Serbia in September 1899. He was later to recall that his only instructions from the Foreign Secretary Lord Salisbury was to "keep [an] eye [on] King Milan". He remained in Serbia until 1900.
According to Goschen himself he was initially less than happy to be offered the Copenhagen Legation. "Oh dear, oh dear! I am not thrilled and later accepted but with misgivings". He served as Minister to Denmark from 1900 until 1905 and although recognising the posting as something of a diplomatic backwater he at least revelled in the social aspects of his position.
Goschen's appointment as Ambassador to Austria-Hungary was seemingly made at the behest of King Edward VII. Goschen most probably expected the Vienna posting to be his last but the imminent retirement of Sir Frank Lascelles at the Berlin embassy posed problems for the Foreign Secretary.
Finding a successor for Lascelles was not easy. Berlin made it clear that Sir Arthur Nicolson would be unacceptable and the successor and although the Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Charles Hardinge had initially favoured Fairfax Cartwright, the Minister at Munich, he was in his turn vetoed by the Germans who wanted a public figure. Eventually a reluctant Kaiser was persuaded to accept Goschen. In Goschen's last conversation with the German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg before asking for his passports, on 4 August 1914, Bethmann famously expressed his astonishment that England would go to war for "a scrap of paper" (the 1839 treaty guaranteeing Belgium's neutrality).
Goschen was admitted to the Privy Council in 1905 and created a Baronet, of Beacon Lodge, Highcliffe, in the County of Southampton, in 1916.
Goschen married Hosta Clarke, an American from Michigan, in 1874. They had two sons, Edward Henry Goschen born in 1877 and George Gerard Goschen born in 1887. Lady Goschen died in February 1912. In later life he became an enthusiastic if untalented violinist. He notes in his diary playing duets with the Crown Prince of Germany in 1910. Goschen died in Chelsea, London, in May 1924, aged 74, and was succeeded in his title by his eldest son, Edward Henry Goschen.
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Edmund Fane |
British Ambassador to Serbia 1899–1900 |
Succeeded by George Bonham |
| Preceded by Edmund Fane |
British Ambassador to Denmark 1900–1905 |
Succeeded by Conyngham Greene |
| Preceded by Francis Richard Plunkett |
British Ambassador to Austria-Hungary 1905–1908 |
Succeeded by Fairfax Cartwright |
| Preceded by Sir Frank Lascelles |
British Ambassador to Germany 1908–1914 |
World War I |
| Court offices | ||
| Vacant
Title last held by
Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane |
Gentleman Usher to the Sword of State 1919–1924 |
Succeeded by Sir Reginald Brade |
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baronet (of Beacon Lodge) 1916–1924 |
Succeeded by Edward Goschen |