Charles Henry Bentinck

Reverend Sir Charles Bentinck KCMG (23 April 1879 – 26 March 1955) was a British diplomat who was Minister or Ambassador to several countries and, after retirement, became an Anglican priest.

Career

Charles Henry Bentinck was educated privately and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He joined the Diplomatic Service in 1904 and served in Berlin 1905–06 and St Petersburg 1906–09 before being appointed to The Hague 1908–14 where he acted as Chargé d'affaires on several occasions. During World War I he was stationed in Tokyo. In 1919 he returned to the Foreign Office and in 1920 was posted with the rank of counsellor to Athens where he again acted as chargé d'affaires for a considerable period. He was also British delegate to the international financial commission which had been established in Athens following the Greco-Turkish War (1897) to oversee the public finances of Greece.

After a few months as Consul-General at Munich 1924–25^[1] Bentinck was Minister and Consul-General in Ethiopia 1925–29;^[2] Minister to Peru and Ecuador (at that time a combined mission) 1929–33;^[3] Minister to Bulgaria 1934–36;^[4] Minister to Czechoslovakia 1936–37;^[5] and Ambassador to Chile 1937–40.^[6]

After retiring from the Diplomatic Service in 1941 Bentinck studied for ordination at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, and was ordained in the same year. He was vicar of West Farleigh, Kent, 1941–46. In 1946 he moved to Brussels and was for two years officiating chaplain to HM Forces in Belgium.

Honours

Charles Bentinck was appointed CMG in the King's Birthday Honours of 1923^[7] and knighted KCMG in 1937.^[8] Through his descent from the Bentinck family he was a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, a title created in 1732 by the Emperor Charles VI for William Bentinck, son of the 1st Earl of Portland (the family was granted a Royal Licence by Queen Victoria in 1886 to bear the title in England), but he did not use the title of Count.

References

• BENTINCK, Rev. Sir Charles Henry, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007, accessed 19 July 2012
• Rev. Sir Charles Bentinck – Ambassador and Priest (obituary), The Times, London, 21 April 1955, page ix

1. The London Gazette: no. 32999. p. 8852. 5 December 1924.
2. The London Gazette: no. 33122. p. 212. 8 January 1926.
3. The London Gazette: no. 33462. p. 767. 1 February 1929.
4. The London Gazette: no. 34019. p. 676. 30 January 1934.
5. The London Gazette: no. 34334. p. 6761. 23 October 1936.
6. New Ambassador To Chile – Mr C.H. Bentinck's Promotion, The Times, London, 23 December 1936, page 12
7. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 32830. p. 3946. 2 June 1923.
8. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 34365. p. 692. 1 February 1937.