Edgar Vincent, 1st Viscount D'Abernon
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The Right Honourable The Viscount D'Abernon GCB GCMG PC FRS |
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Lord D'Abernon in 1926
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Edgar Vincent 19 August 1857 Slinfold, West Sussex, England |
| Died | 1 November 1941 (aged 84) Hove, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Helen Venetia Duncombe |
| Education | Eton College |
Edgar Vincent, 1st Viscount D'Abernon GCB GCMG PC FRS (19 August 1857 – 1 November 1941) was a British politician, diplomat, art collector and author.
Vincent was the youngest son of Sir Frederick Vincent, 11th Baronet, of Stoke D'Abernon (1798–1883) and his second wife, Maria Copley (d. 1899). He was born at Slinfold, West Sussex and educated at Eton College for the diplomatic service. Instead, he spent five years as a member of the Coldstream Guards before coming into the service as secretary to Lord Edmond FitzMaurice, Queen's Commissioner on the East Rumelian Question. He was himself appointed Commissioner for the Evacuation of Thessaly (ceded to Greece by Turkey) and advised the Egyptian government on financial matters from 1883 to 1889.
That year he became governor of the Imperial Ottoman Bank. One of his policies was to get the Bank involved in South African mining shares on European stock exchanges. This caused a speculation craze in Constantinople where tens of thousands of people bought South African mining shares, a lot of them with money loaned from the Ottoman Bank. This led to a run on the Bank in late 1895 and then a crash in the share values, followed by an international panic and the financial ruin of many of those who invested in the shares. Vincent was heavily condemned for his role in the disaster, though he personally made a fortune from the shares.
In 1896 the banking office in Constantinople was occupied by a group of armed Armenians who threatened to destroy the building with bombs. Vincent escaped through a skylight and notified the Turkish authorities at the Sublime Porte and secured a negotiator from the Russian Embassy. The attackers agreed to surrender their bombs in exchange for safe passage to exile in France, being conducted on Sir Edgar's private vessel.
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