born July 30, 1864, Leipzig, Ger.
died April 28, 1925, Swanage, Dorset, Eng.
British diplomat.
In the years before World War I he strongly urged an anti-German policy, arguing in a 1907 memorandum that Germany aimed at the domination of Europe, that concessions would only increase its appetite for power, and that the entente with France must not be abandoned. On July 25, 1914, he urged a show of force by the British navy to forestall war, and when war began a few days later he induced the government to seize German vessels in British ports. He served as permanent undersecretary of state for foreign affairs (1920–25).