| [Index] |
| John Francis Charles DE SALIS (1864 - 1939) |
| 7th Count, diplomat, KCMG |
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| b. 19 Jul 1864 at Hillingdon, Middlesex, England |
| m. 06 Dec 1890 Helene Marie DE RIQUET DE CARAMAN-CHIMAY (1864 - 1902) at Brussels, Belgium |
| d. 14 Jan 1939 aged 74 |
| Parents: |
| John Francis William DE SALIS (1825 - 1871) |
| Amelia Frances Harriet TOWER (1837 - 1885) |
| Siblings (2): |
| Catherine Sophia DE SALIS (1863 - ) |
| Henry Rodolph DE SALIS (1866 - 1936) |
| Children (3): |
| John Eugene DE SALIS (1891 - 1949) |
| Anthony Denis Rodolph DE SALIS (1897 - 1952) |
| Peter Francis DE SALIS (1902 - 1982) |
| Grandchildren (11): |
| Events in John Francis Charles DE SALIS (1864 - 1939)'s life | |||||
| Date | Age | Event | Place | Notes | Src |
| 19 Jul 1864 | John Francis Charles DE SALIS was born | Hillingdon, Middlesex, England | Note 1 | ||
| 02 Apr 1871 | 6 | Census | Hillingdon, Middlesex, England | ||
| 07 Aug 1871 | 7 | Death of father John Francis William DE SALIS (aged 45) | Uxbridge, Middlesex, England | Note 2 | |
| 1881 | 17 | Census | Eton, Buckinghamshire, England | Border at shhool | |
| 08 Jan 1885 | 20 | Death of mother Amelia Frances Harriet TOWER (aged 48) | Kensington, London, England | Note 3 | |
| 06 Dec 1890 | 26 | Married Helene Marie DE RIQUET DE CARAMAN-CHIMAY (aged 26) | Brussels, Belgium | ||
| 1891 | 27 | Birth of son John Eugene DE SALIS | |||
| 1897 | 33 | Birth of son Anthony Denis Rodolph DE SALIS | |||
| 1902 | 38 | Birth of son Peter Francis DE SALIS | |||
| 31 May 1902 | 37 | Death of wife Helene Marie DE RIQUET DE CARAMAN-CHIMAY (aged 37) | Brussels, Belgium | ||
| 14 Jan 1939 | 74 | John Francis Charles DE SALIS died | |||
| Note 1: Free BMD Sep 1864 Uxbridge 3a 18 |
| Note 2: Free BMD Sep 1871 Uxbridge 3a 14 |
| Note 3: Free BMD Mar 1885 Kensington 1a 138 |
| Personal Notes: |
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Sir John Francis Charles de Salis, 7th Count, KCMG, CVO (19 July 1864 - 14 January 1939) was a British diplomat and landowner.
He was the eldest son of Count John Francis William de Salis (1825–1871), a diplomat and renowned numismaticist of Hillingdon, by his wife Amelia Frances Harriet (1837-8.1.1885), daughter of Christopher Tower, JP DL MP, of Huntsmoor Park, Iver and Weald Hall, Essex. Coat-Armour from Fox-Davies, 1929 After Eton (1877–1882) he was nominated an Attaché in the diplomatic service 20 November 1886. He passed a competitive examination, January 14, 1887. On 12 June 1888 he was appointed to Brussels as an Attaché and promoted to 3rd Secretary, January 14, 1889; thence...; 24 April 1892 Madrid; Promoted to 2nd Secretary August 22, 1893; August 1894 Cairo under Lord Cromer in charge of the agency there when the Dervishes were active (he was granted an allowance for knowledge of Arabic, April 2, 1895); autumn 1897 Berlin; 1899 Brussels; 1901 Athens, head of chancery (dealing with the Macedonian problem); promoted to be a 1st Secretary April 1, 1904. Employed 1901-06 Foreign Office London; Appointed a British Delegate for a negotiation of a new Commercial Convention with Roumania, September 7, 1905; Berlin charge d'affairs and counsellor of the embassy 1906-1911; was a British delegate at the International Copyright Conference at Berlin, October, November 1908; November 1911-16 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of Montenegro, Cettinje; envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary on a special mission to the Holy See, 1916–1923, (Pope Benedict XV 1916-1922, and same to Pope Pius XI 1922-1923). Unemployed from January 8, 1923. He was one of the three members of the 1931 of the Malta Royal Commission, report issued in a blue-book, 11 February 1932. De Salis Report In 1919 the British Government sent de Salis to investigate the situation created in Montenegro by the Serbian occupation. The report was suppressed. Alex. Devine in The Martyred Nation, 1924 wrote: The fact is the Report contains such a damning indictment of Serbian rule that its publication would immediately provoke interference; and that interference did not suit our policy towards the French Government. In the House of Commons Ronald McNeill, over and over again, asked about production of the Report and De Salis's possible arrest. But as Devine put it : When the day came that Mr. McNeill found himself Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the late Conservative Ministry, the Report was on his desk in the Foreign Office and Mr. McNeill could no more disclose its contents than his predecessors could. Meanwhile, Lord Sydenham in the House of Lords, Hansard, 29 November 1920 said: The Papers for which I ask are two. The first is the Report of Count de Salis, which the noble Earl [ Curzon ] the Leader of the House said he had no objection to giving, but he added— If the report is made public, the names of witnesses would be contained in it who gave their evidence to Count de Salis only on the pledge of strictest secrecy, and who might, I think, suffer seriously from divulgation. Could there be a clearer admission of what is going on in Montenegro? In a letter, dated New York, May 1, 1922, published in the New York Times, May 7, 1922, Ronald Tree described the Count as: '..perhaps the greatest English authority on the Balkans'. In April 1920, months after the possible event, an alleged arrest and imprisonment by the Serbians, the New York Times reported: 'Serbs arrest de Salis, Montenegro minister accuses Britain and Wilson to Nicholas. Paris, April 2. -Count de Salis, formerly British Minister to Montenegro and later a special envoy to the Vatican for the British Government, has been arrested and imprisoned by the Serbians while executing a mission of investigation for his Government. This information is contained in a declaration made to King Nicholas of Montenegro, who is now in Paris, by the Montenegran Foreign Minister. Count de Salis's life has been in danger for a long time, according to this declaration, which prefaces the details of the incident by recalling Earl Curzon's declaration in the British House of Lords that the Montenegrans were anxious for a union with Serbia. Instead of demanding reparations, the declaration adds, the British Foreign Office suppressed the report of Count de Salis and continued to support Serbian claims. The declaration alleges the report was to the effect that the Serbian army 'which overran Montenegro after the armistice terrorized the population'. The reign of terror still continues, says the declaration, which, after asserting that whatever Serbian troops appear the occupation is followed by pillage, incendiarism and massacres, gives details. In conclusion the complaint is made in the declaration that 'Europe knows what is happening to Montenegro but remains indifferent,' and that President Wilson, 'the great champion of small nations, persistently turns a deaf ear'. The sensitivity of the issue is shown by none of his four obituaries in The Times (1937) mentioning neither his Montenegran Report or the arrest. Estate In 1883 the Count was listed in Bateman's Great Landowners, (information came via Landowners, Return of Owners of Land, Dublin, 1876), as being of Tandragee and London and owning 3,663 acres (14.82 km2) worth £5,392 per annum in County Armagh and 4,026 acres (16.29 km2) worth £3,349 per annum in County Limerick. These Irish estates derived from Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath (1587–1654), an ancestral uncle by marriage. The 1883 and 1887 Burke's Peerage and Walford's list him as living at Grange Hill, Limerick; 7, Athlestone terrace; and Hillingdon place, Middlesex. He was accordingly a JP for Limerick and Armagh; and Deputy Lieutenant (DL) for Limerick. Debret's Peerage in 1925 had his seats as: Loughgur, co. Limerick; and Bondo, Bregalia, Grisons. In 1908 he was number 29,148 in the list of descendants of Edward III; 7,337 in the list of those living. His livery was: green coat with a yellow waistcoat. In addition to his CVO, CMG and KCMG, he held the 2nd Class Prussian Order of the Red Eagle, and the 1911 Coronation Medal. Wife and her family He married in Brussels, 6 December 1890, Hélène Marie de Riquet, Comtesse de Caraman-Chimay (born chateau de Ménars, Loire 18.8.1864 - died Bruxelles 31 May 1902), daughter of Marie Eugène Auguste de Riquet, Prince de Caraman-Chimay, of the chateau de Beaumont (Hainault), (born Ménars, 08.01.1847, died chateau de Chimay, Hainault, Wallonia 20.6.1881) by Louise de Graffenried-Villars (born Ile de France 17.6.1842, died Bxl. 18.10.1901). Prince Eugene was son of Joseph Philippe de Riquet de Caraman, 17th Prince de Chimay and 1st Prince de Caraman, of Chimay, Ménars, etc, (born Paris 20.8.1808, died London 12.3.1886) by Émilie Louise Marie Françoise Joséphine Pellapra, (born Lyon 11.11.1806, died Ménars 22.5.1871). Prince Eugene was grandson of François-Joseph-Philippe de Riquet, Count de Caraman, 16th Prince de Chimay, (born Paris 21.9.1771, died Toulouse 2.3.1843), by Juana Maria Ignazia Teresa Cabarrús, Madame Tallien, (born Carabanchel Alto, Spain 31.7.1773, died Chimay 15.1.1835), who he married in Paris 22.8.1805. In December 1902 his sister-in-law Alice (1868–1953) married Prince Giovanni Borghese (1855–1918), (brother of Prince de Vivaro, Duke de Ceri, and Duke de Poggio-Naturo. His sister-in-law Louise Emilie (1871-Budapest 18 Jul 1944) married, 1896, Dénes Othon Alexander Franz Graf Széchényi v. Sárvár-Felsövidék (1866–1934). Ernestine Magdeleine (1879–1914) married, 1900, Joseph Ladislas Emanuel Maria Graf Hunyady (1873–1942) and his brother-in-law Charles Philippe (1881–1931) married, 1913, Marie Berthe Jeanne de Boisgelin (1889-Lausanne 18 Sep 1967). Clubs He was a member of the Marlborough; Bath; White's; and Travellers'. Brother Count (Henry) Rodolph (Rudie) de Salis (30 June 1866 - 25 Feb 1936). Author Bradshaw's Canals & Navigable Rivers of England & Wales, 1904, 1918 and 1928. De Salis: 'explored the waterways yard by yard, mile by mile travelling in his steam launch, Dragon Fly I, II and III for 11 years and covering 14,000 miles'. He was a main witness to the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways (1906). (see Butterley Tunnel). Educated at Eton (1880–1884) (Shooting VIII, 1882–83, Peek Cup, 1883). Associate Member Institution Civil Engineers. Associate of the Institute of Naval Architects. Member of the Society of Art. JP for Buckinghamshire (1898); High Sheriff, Bucks (1915). Member Buckinghamshire County Council (1898–1916); Thames Conservancy Board (1911–1916). He was director of: Fellows Morton & Clayton Ltd (canal carriers); Windsor Electrical Installation Co. Ltd (1901–1920); Slough and Datchet Electrical Supply Co. Ltd (1908–1920). He married, 9 May 1893, Alice Mary (d.10 June 1939), daughter of Robert Lambert (of the Monmouthshire, 43rd, Light Infantry), of Weston, Thames Ditton. They lived at Ivy Lodge, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire; Acton Lodge, Church Hill, Leamington Spa; and retired to Chy-Morvah, St. Ives, Cornwall. He was found shot dead in his bedroom at Acton Lodge on February 25, 1936. |