List of diplomats of the United Kingdom to the Ottoman Empire explained

This is a list of diplomats of the United Kingdom to the Ottoman Empire.

Ambassadors from England

The first ambassador from England to the Ottoman Empire or Porte was appointed in 1583 under the reign of Elizabeth I.

• 1583-1588: William Harborne, merchant
• 1588-1598: Sir Edward Barton
• 1598-1606: Sir Henry Lello
• 1606-1611: Sir Thomas Glover
• 1611-1620: Sir Paul Pindar
• 1621-1628: Sir Thomas Roe
• 1627-1641: Sir Peter Wyche
• 1641-1646: Sir Sackville Crowe
• 1647-1661: Sir Thomas Bendish
• 1660-1667: Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Winchilsea
• 1668-1672: Sir Daniel Harvey
• 1672-1681: Sir John Finch
• 1681-1687: James Brydges, 8th Baron Chandos
• 1687-1691: Sir William Trumbull
• 1691: Sir William Hussey
• 1691: Sir William Harbord appointed but died en route to Constantinople
• 1692-1701: William Paget, 6th Baron Paget
• 1698 James Rushout appointed but died before he could travel to Constantinople

Ambassadors from Great Britain

• 1700-1717: Sir Robert Sutton^[1]
• 1716-1718: Edward Wortley Montagu, husband of writer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu^[1]
• 1718-1730 Abraham Stanyan^[1]
• 1729-1737: George Hay, 8th Earl of Kinnoull^[1]
• 1737-1746: Everard Fawkener (departed 1742)^[1]
• 1742-1747: Stanhope Aspinwall In charge of affairs^[1]
• 1747-1762: Sir James Porter^[1]
• 1761-1764: Henry Grenville^[1]
• July–November 1765: Robert Colebrooke^[2]
• 1765-1775: John Murray^[1]
• 1775-1793: Sir Robert Ainslie^[1]
• 1793-1796: Sir Robert Liston
• 1796 - Francis James Jackson
• 1796-1799: John Spencer Smith, Minister Plenipotentiary

Ambassadors from the United Kingdom

• 1799-1803: Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin
• 1803 (Jan-May): Alexander Straton (minister plenipotentiary)^[3]
• 1803-1804: William Drummond
• 1804-1807: Charles Arbuthnot
• 1807-1809 Sir Arthur Paget^[4]
• 1808 and 1809: Sir Robert Adair special mission in 1808, Ambassador in 1809
• 1809-1812: Stratford Canning (chargé d'affaires in the absence of an ambassador during the Napoleonic Wars)
• 1812-1820: Sir Robert Liston (his second term)
• March–August 1820 Bartholomew Frere - minister plenipotentiary
• 1820-1824: Percy Clinton, Viscount Strangford
• 1824-1825: William Turner - minister plenipotentiary
• 1825-1827: Stratford Canning (again)
• 1827-1832: (British Embassy was withdrawn following the Battle of Navarino), during this period Sir Robert Gordon was envoy extraordinary and John Hobart Caradoc led a special mission to Greece and Egypt. Canning returned for a period in 1831-32 for the conferences to determine the borders of Greece, with John Henry Mandeville as minister-plenipotentiary.
• 1832-1841: John, Lord Ponsonby
• Mar-Oct 1841: Charles Bankhead minister-plenipotentiary
• 1841-1858: Stratford Canning, 1st Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe (again) with Henry Richard Charles Wellesley as minister-plenipotentiary in 1845
• 1858-1865: Sir Henry Bulwer
• 1865-1867: Richard Lyons, 1st Baron Lyons
• 1867-1877: Sir Henry Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound
• 1877-1880: Sir Henry Layard
• May 1880: George Joachim Goschen (special ambassador)
• 1881-1884: Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Earl of Dufferin
• 1884-1886: Sir Edward Thornton
• 1886-1891: Sir William White
• 1891-1893: Sir Clare Ford
• 1893-1898: Sir Philip Currie
• 1898-1908: Sir Nicholas O'Conor-Don
• Apr–Jul 1908: Sir George Head Barclay
• 1908-1913: Sir Gerard Lowther, 1st Baronet
• 1913-1914: Sir Louis Mallet
• 1914-1918: no diplomatic relations due to World War I
• 1918-1919: Somerset Gough-Calthorpe (British High Commissioner), also Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet
• 1919-1920: John de Robeck (British High Commissioner), also Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet
• 1920-1923: Sir Horace Rumbold, 9th Baronet (British High Commissioner at Constantinople). 1923-1924: British representative to Turkey.

From 1925 onwards, following the formation of the Republic of Turkey, see: List of ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Turkey

List of other prominent British residents

• 1880s: Francis Richard Plunkett served as Diplomatic Secretary
• 1876: Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury - Represented Britain at the Six Powers Constantinople Conference.
• late 19th century: Sir Edgar Vincent, Director-General of the Imperial Ottoman Bank
• 17th century: Sir Paul Rycault - Secretary to the Ambassador and Consul in Smyrna.
• Thomas Dallam: organ maker
• William Biddulph: Protestant chaplain in Aleppo
• In 1653 the Commonwealth appointed one Richard Lawrence as agent
• 1668-1671: Sir George Etherege, restoration rake and writer, secretary to Daniel Harvey

References

1. D. B. Horn, British Diplomatic Representatives 1689-1789 (Camden 3rd Ser. 46, 1932)
2. http://www.thepeerage.com/p2544.htm#i25435 thepeerage.com
3. Alfred C. Wood, A History of the Levant Company, Oxford: Oxford UP, 1935, pp. 183-184.
4. J. M. Rigg, Paget, Sir Arthur (1771–1840), H. C. G. Matthew, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008), accessed 30 Nov 2008.