Catalogue description Sir Arthur Nicholson, 1st Baron Carnock: Papers

Sir Arthur Nicolson, 1st Baron Carnock (1849-1928) was educated at Rugby and Brasenose College, Oxford and joined the Foreign Office in 1870. After appointments in Berlin and Peking he was sent to Constantinople, where he was for a time inspector of consulates in Asia Minor; then successively to Athens as charge d'affaires and Teheran as secretary of the legation.

In 1888 Nicolson was made KCIE and moved to Budapest as consul-general. In 1893 he returned to Constantinople as secretary, then transferred to Sofia as agent, and in 1895 to Tangier as minister, where he remained until 1904. In that year he became ambassador in Madrid, an appointment interrupted by his involvement in the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Algeciras of 1905, for which he was made GCVO and in the following year GCMG.

In 1906 Nicolson was appointed Ambassador in St. Petersburg and was instrumental in the drawing up of the Anglo-Russian Agreement in 1907, after which he was made GCB. In 1910 he was appointed Permanent Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs and until 1914 sought to avert conflict with Germany.

Nicolson retired in 1916 and was created Baron Carnock; thereafter he undertook the work of liaison between the Foreign Office and Buckingham Palace. Besides his English honours, Nicolson was decorated by France, Spain and Russia.