{"record":{"aliases":["Michael Henry Herbert","Sir Michael Henry Herbert","Michael Herbert"],"appointmentIds":["united-kingdom-f48ac760d460d2","united-kingdom-5c4408a5189bb8"],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/sir-michael-herbert-48e4d29a16/","countrySlug":"united-kingdom","entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/sir-michael-herbert-48e4d29a16/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Michael Henry Herbert entered the diplomatic service in 1877 and began work at the British embassy in Paris in 1879. He moved to Washington in 1888, married the American Leila Wilson that November, and formed a friendship with Theodore Roosevelt during Roosevelt’s years on the Civil Service Commission. His subsequent postings took him to The Hague, Constantinople, Rome, and Paris. In 1902 he returned to the United States as ambassador.","Herbert’s first period in charge of the Washington legation followed the collapse of Lord Sackville’s position during the American presidential election of 1888. Sackville’s private reply to a purported British born American voter had been published and used in the campaign. On 5 November, Salisbury instructed Herbert to notify the State Department that he had been placed in charge. Four days later Herbert forwarded Sackville’s account of the affair to London.","On 24 January 1903, Herbert and Secretary of State John Hay signed the convention that submitted the Alaska boundary dispute to a six member tribunal, with three jurists appointed by each government. The tribunal was to interpret the earlier Anglo-Russian boundary agreement and decide disputed geographical questions. Herbert also handled the arrangements for exchanging the two governments’ cases: in April he conveyed British agreement to Hay’s proposal to exchange them through the embassies, avoiding unnecessary journeys across the Atlantic.","Herbert also signed Britain’s agreement with Venezuela on 13 February 1903, negotiating with Herbert W. Bowen, the American minister who had been authorized to represent Venezuela. The protocol provided for settlement of British claims through immediate payments and a mixed commission, and assigned part of the customs revenue of La Guaira and Puerto Cabello to meet foreign claims. Britain undertook to arrange with Germany and Italy to lift the naval blockade. The agreement left the contested priority of the blockading powers’ claims for determination at The Hague.","His ambassadorship ended after little more than a year. Suffering from tuberculosis, Herbert died at Davos, Switzerland, on 30 September 1903, aged forty-six. Contemporary reporting recalled his outdoor pursuits with Roosevelt and identified his wife and two sons among his survivors. His death came before the Alaska tribunal delivered its award the following month."],"id":"united-kingdom:sir michael herbert","identifiers":{},"legacyPersonIds":["united-kingdom:michael herbert"],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-48e4d29a161e44c12f66.html","name":"Sir Michael Herbert","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["src-c5c2bd80e88cf756","src-a798e88e55f1f2de"],["src-161f156583dae7d4","src-ebda990b34c7eb6f"],["src-9ebf5c39bc92f189","src-42378c071d39a2d2"],["src-ad0b1783ee7e9763"],["src-c5c2bd80e88cf756","src-9ebf5c39bc92f189"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-48e4d29a161e44c12f66.html","relatedEvents":[],"relatedPeople":[],"relationships":[],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-10-28","revision":"e7d6bf78737ca937","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1903-10-02","id":"src-c5c2bd80e88cf756","locator":"PDF page 7: obituary, career chronology and survivors","publisher":"Barrington Courier-Review / Barrington Area Library","title":"British Ambassador at Washington Dead","type":"contemporary-report","url":"https://www.balibrary.org/files/publiccourier/19031002.pdf"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1902-09-05","id":"src-a798e88e55f1f2de","locator":"Issue 27471, page 5751; Foreign Office notice of 21 August, effective 4 June 1902","publisher":"The London Gazette","title":"Appointment of Sir Michael Henry Herbert as ambassador to the United States","type":"primary-record","url":"https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/27471/page/5751/data.pdf"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1888-11-05","id":"src-161f156583dae7d4","locator":"FRUS 1888, Part II, document 442","publisher":"U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian","title":"The Marquis of Salisbury to Mr. Herbert","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1888p2/d442"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1888-11-09","id":"src-ebda990b34c7eb6f","locator":"FRUS 1888, Part II, document 449","publisher":"U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian","title":"Mr. Herbert to the Marquis of Salisbury, enclosing Sackville’s statement","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1888p2/d449"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1903-01-24","id":"src-9ebf5c39bc92f189","locator":"Preamble; Articles I–IV; signatures; award dated 20 October 1903","publisher":"British and American treaty text, transcribed on Wikisource","title":"Convention for adjustment of the Alaska boundary and tribunal award","type":"primary-record","url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Hay%E2%80%93Herbert_Treaty"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1903-04-16","id":"src-42378c071d39a2d2","locator":"FRUS 1903, document 490","publisher":"U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian","title":"Mr. Herbert to Mr. Hay","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1903/d490"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1903-02-13","id":"src-ad0b1783ee7e9763","locator":"Volume IX, pages 351–353, Articles II–V and VIII","publisher":"United Nations, Reports of International Arbitral Awards","title":"Mixed Claims Commission Great Britain–Venezuela: Protocol of 13 February 1903","type":"primary-record","url":"https://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_IX/349-533.pdf"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"","id":"mission-da3a7618dcca45003959","locator":"","publisher":"","title":"Sir Michael Herbert — mission record (1902–1903)","type":"Mission record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1903/d469"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"","id":"mission-f738a12ef6a3689185cc","locator":"","publisher":"","title":"Michael Herbert — mission record (1888–1889)","type":"Mission record","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Henry_Herbert"}],"topics":["Alaska boundary dispute","Venezuelan blockade","Treaty negotiation","Sackville affair","Anglo-American relations"]},"schemaVersion":1}