The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-08-30 00:00:00

DEATH OF LORD AMPTHILL.

Lord Ampthill, the British Ambassador to Germany,
died at Potsdam on Monday morning, the cause of
death being disease of the liver. His lordship'sdeath,
which was quite unexpected, has elicited universal
regret and sympathy in all distinguished circles in
Berlin. The deceased diplomatist had represented
this country as ambassador at Berlin since October,
1871.

The death of Lord Ampthill was communicated to
Queen Victoria by telegraph. Lord and Lady
Ampthill's
_brothers have been summoned by telegra-'
to Potsdam. ,
The body will be conveyerifiti;
jt'npthill and l'fn c.,,r" 7. " , :.:...ngtand, and Lady
.a gill subsequently follow.

The late Odo William Leopold Russell, Lord
Ampthill of Ampthill, Beds, was the youngest son of
the late Major-General Lord George William Russell,
G.C.8., and Elizabeth Anne, only child of the late
Hon. J. T. Rawdon, and niece of the first Marquis of
Hastings, and consequently brother of the Duke of
Bedford, and was born February 20, 1829. He
married, May 5, 1868, Lady Emily Theresa Villiers,
third daughter of the late Earl and Countess of
Clarendon, by whom he leaves a family of four sons
and two daughters. The late peer was first appointed
attache to the British Embassy at Vienna, in March,
1849, but returned home the succeeding year and served
nearly two years in the Foreign Office. He was then
attached to the Embassy in Paris, but shortly afterwards
removed again to Vienna, and was charged with the
affairs of the mission for a short time in 1852. He was
appointed in September, 1853, second attache at
Paris, and in August, 1854, first paid attache at
Constantinople. He was charged with the affairs of
the Embassy during Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe's
two visits to the Crimea in 1855. He accompanied
Lord Napier to the United States in February, 1857,
and in the following month was appointed atta:l6 to
the Legation. In November, 1858, he was trans-
ferred to Florence to reside at Rome, with a com-
mission as secretary of Legation. In May, 1859, he
was temporarily attached to Sir Henry Elliot's special
mission to Naples. On the withdrawal of the mission
from Naples, in November, 1860, he was employed
on special service at Rome, where he continued to
be so employed till August, 1870. He was appointed
Assistant Under Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs in Au,gust, 1870. In November, the same
year he was employed on a special mission to
Count (now Prince Bismarck) at the head-quarters
of the German army at Versailles till March, 1871.
He was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of Germany, King
of Prussia, in October, 1871, which exalted post he
retained to the time of his death. In February.
1872, he was sworn in a Privy Councillor, was made
a Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1874, and
a Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St.
George in 1879, and was elevated to the peerage by
the style and title of Baron Ampthill of Ampthill,
Beds, in March, 1881.
The Duke and Duchess of Bedford, the Earl and
Countess of Clarendon, the Countess of Lathom,
Lady Constance Stanley, the Marquis and Mar-
chioness of Tavistock, Lord Arthur Russell, and
other families of rank are placed in mourning by Lord
Ampthill's unexpected decease.

The Berlin Correspondent of the Daily liws tele-
graphs that Lord Ampthill's death has called forth
extraordinary manifestations of sympathy. Con-
dolatory telegrams continue to pour in from all parts.
All the leading Berlin papers publi3h sympathetic
obituary notices of the late Ambassador.
The Court Circular records the deep concern with
which the Queen and the Crown Princess of Germany
received the intelligence of the death of Lord
Ampthill. Tier Majesty had a high regard for him,
and the Crown Princess loses in the deceased Am-
bassador a dear and devoted friend.