McGill Libraries
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Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Henderson, Nevile, Sir, 1882-1942
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1882-1942
History
Sir Nevile Meyrick Henderson was born on June 10, 1882, in Sedgwick, Sussex, England.
He was a British diplomat. He studied at Eton College and abroad to improve his language skills. He joined the diplomatic service in 1905 and spent most of the next thirty-four years abroad. His first posting was to St. Petersburg (1905-1909), followed by Tokyo (1909-1911), St. Petersburg (1912), Rome (1914), Paris (1916), Constantinople (1920), and Cairo (1924). While serving in Paris, he was promoted to the first secretary in 1918. From 1929 to 1935, he served as British Minister to Yugoslavia and from 1935 to 1937, British Ambassador to Argentina. In 1932, he was knighted. In 1937, Henderson was appointed the British ambassador to Nazi Germany. Once in Berlin, he tried to improve relations with the Nazis, as instructed, but he was criticized and accused of being pro-Nazi. His mission to Germany ended in 1939 due to failing health. He is the author of the memoirs "Failure of a Mission: Berlin, 1937-1939" (1940) and "Water Under the Bridges" (1945).
He died unmarried on December 30, 1942, in London, England.