Michael Henry Herbert

The Right Honourable Sir Michael Henry Herbert KCMG CB
The Hon. Sir Michael Henry Herbert by 'Spy', 1903
His Majesty's Ambassador to the United States
In office 1902–1903
Monarch	Edward VII
President	Theodore Roosevelt
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury Arthur Balfour
Preceded by	The Lord Pauncefote
Succeeded by	Sir Mortimer Durand
Personal details
Born	25 June 1857
Died	30 September 1903(1903-09-30) (aged 46) Davos, Switzerland
Spouse(s)	Leila Belle Wilson
Occupation	diplomat

Sir Michael Henry Herbert, KCMG, CB, PC(25 June 1857 – 30 September 1903), was a British diplomat and ambassador.

Herbert was brought up at the family house at Wilton House, in Wiltshire. He joined the Diplomatic Service and was posted to Paris aged 21, on 1 June 1879, where he was appointed Third Secretary in March 1880 and Second Secretary in November 1883.

He was transferred to Washington DC on 31 August 1888, where he served as Secretary and twice acted as Chargé d'affaires. In September 1893 he transferred to The Hague, and in August the following year was promoted to Secretary of Embassy at Constantinople. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1896. Following a brief posting to Rome in 1897, he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary in Paris in 1898.

Herbert ended his career as the second British Ambassador to the United States from June 1902, in succession to Lord Pauncefote, who had died in office the previous month. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902, and received the knighthood in a private audience with King Edward VII on board HMY Victoria and Albert on 2 August, before leaving for Washington. As ambassador, he created with the U.S. Secretary of State John Hay a joint commission to establish the border between the U.S. district of Alaska and British interests in the Dominion of Canada, where gold had been found in the 1890s, which resulted in the definitive Alaskan boundary treaty of 1903. He was also involved during the Venezuela Crisis of 1902–1903.