The Hon. Aubrey Herbert ( 1880-1923) was a remarkable and somewhat eccentric figure in British diplomatic and political circles.
Background
The second son of the 4th Earl of Carnavon, Aubrey Herbert was educated at Oxford University where he was famous for daring exploits and numbered among his friends Adrian Carton De Wiart, Raymond Asquith, John Buchan and Hilaire Belloc. The Middle Eastern traveller and advisor, Sir Mark Sykes, was another friend. He was a half brother to the famous Egyptologist, George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon who discovered King Tutankhamen's tomb.
Travels
Herbert was in his own right a considerable Orientalist, a linguist who spoke seven languages, a renowned traveller, especially in the Middle East. His trips include time in Japan, Yemen, Anatolia and Albania. During the period 1903-05 he was an honorary attache, first in Tokyo, then in Constantinople.
Albania
He became a passionate advocate of Albanian independence, having visited the country in 1907, 1911 and 1913. When the Albanian delegates to the 1912 London Balkan Peace Conference arrived, they secured the assistance of Herbert as an advisor. He was very active in their cause. He was twice offered the throne of Albania.
The National Library of Albania in Tirana was once named after Herbert as was a village in the country.
Parliament
He was a very independent Conservative Member of Parliament for the Yeovil Division of Somerset from 1911 to his death. Always an advocate of the rights of smaller nations, Herbert opposed the British Government's Irish policy. Herbert was, however always seen as something of a lightweight in the House of Commons.
Warrior
Despite very poor eyesight, Herbert was able to obtain a commission at the outbreak of World War One in 1914 in the Irish Guards, in which he served in a supernumerary position.
France
During the First World War he was wounded in France (Irish Guards), taken prisoner, and escaped. He was later involved with British Intelligence.
Gallipoli
Herbert was an intelligence officer attached to the Australia-New Zealand Division, the Anzacs, during the Gallipoli Campaign, where his Turkish speaking ability was to prove useful. He was famous for having arranged a truce with Turkish authorities to bury the dead.
Mesopotamia
After home leave to recover from illness, Herbert was sent to the Middle East, working with, among others, T.E. Lawrence, Sir Percy Cox and Gertrude Bell. He and Lawrence made an unsuccessful attempt to bribe a Turkish officer to allow the escape of British troops surrounded at Kut al Amara .
Herbert ended the war as head of the British mission to the Italian army in Albania with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Family Life
Aubrey Herbert married Mary, daughter of the 4th Viscount de Vesci, a member of the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They had four children, one of whom, Laura, married the celebrated novelist, Evelyn Waugh. They maintained a country residence at Pixton on Dartmoor in Devon and a villa on the Gulf of Genoa at Portofino. His son, Auberon Herbert, inherited both properties.
Herbert was a slim man of more than average height. Contemporaries described him as having perfect manners.
Model for Literature
It is widely believed that Herbert is the inspiration for the character, Sandy Arbuthnot, a hero in several of John Buchan novels including Greenmantle.
Bibliography
"The Decline and Fall Of the British Aristocracy" by David Cannandine, Picador, London, 1992
"The Asquiths" by Colin Clifford, John Murray, London, 2003
"Hillaire Belloc" by A.N. Wilson, Penguin, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1986
"Desert Queen" by Janet Wallach, Anchor Books, New York, 1999
"John Buchan, A Biography" by Janet Adam Smith, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1985
"Evelyn Waugh, Vol. 1, The Early Years 1903-1939" by Martin Stannard, Flamingo, Hammersmith, London, 1993
"Evelyn Waugh, A Biography" by Christopher Sykes, Penguin, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1977
"John Buchan, The Presbyterian Cavalier" by Andrew Lownie, McArthur and Company, Toronto, 2004
