SIR C. SPRING-RICE DEAD

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 40, 15 February 1918, Page 7

SIR C. SPRING-RICE DEAD

"EX-AMBASSADOR TO UNITED STATES. (ADSIRALIAN-NBtr ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION.) . (Received February 15, 9.30 a.m.) VANCOUVER, 14th February. Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, late British Ambassador to the United States, ie dead.

Sir Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice, G.C.M.Go G.C.V.Oy was born in 1859, and had nearly completed his 59th year. He was a son of the late Hon. C. SpringRice, and grandson of the first Lord Monteagle. After, his education at Eton and Oxford, he served in the War Office for a short time, and then entered the Foreign Office, where he was assistant private secretary to Earl Granville and precis writer to the Earl of Rosebery. He was subsequently secretory to' the British Embassies at Brussels, Washington, Tokio, Berlin, and Constantinople; Charge d'Affaires at Teheran, British Commissioner of Public Debt at Cairo, and Secretary of the Embassy at Pelrograd. On attaining the highest rank in the diplomatic service he was first appointed Minister to Persia, then to.Sweden, and in 1912 returned to Washington as British Ambassador ■ Tho circumstances •of Sir Cecil's retirement have not yet been fully explained. Early this year it was announced that Lord Reading, tho Lord Chief Justice, had been appointed High Commissioner in the character of Ambasfiador ( Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary upon a special mission, with full authority and control over all British missions sent to the United States in connection with the active prosecution of the war. Sir Cecil Spring-Rice was to have extended leave during Lord Reading's mission. It was evident, however, from Sir Cecil's remarks in Canada on hie way home that he' regarded his suspension as permanent. The British Government may have found it neces-, ■sary, in view iof the enormous financial operations/between the two nations, to be represented in Washington by an envoy with legal training. Lord Reading had previously conducted important financial negotiations with the United States.