Ferdinand Eduard, Freiherr von Stumm (12 July 1843 – 10 May 1925), was a Prussian and German diplomat.
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Early life
Stumm was born on 12 July 1843 in Neunkirchen, Saarland. His father was Karl Friedrich Stumm (1798–1848), who died by suicide during the economic crisis of the 1840s and who had run the family company as sole owner since the 1835 death of his grandfather, Friedrich Philipp Stumm. His elder brother was Carl Ferdinand Stumm (ennobled as Baron von Stumm-Halberg in 1888) and his younger brother was Hugo Rudolf Stumm (ennobled as Baron von Stumm-Ramholz in 1888).
Career
Stumm came from a family of entrepreneurs who bought the Neunkircher ironworks and shares in other ironworks in Saarland in 1806. While his older brother Carl took over the management of the ironworks, Ferdinand benefited from the profits of the family business as a silent partner.
As an officer, Stumm took part in the Second Schleswig War of 1864 and the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. He was attached to the Prussian legation in Florence in 1867, took part in the British expedition to Abyssinia in 1868 and worked in the Prussian Foreign Ministry in Berlin under Otto von Bismarck in 1869. After taking part in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, he served as Prussian chargé d'affaires to the Holy See in 1871. He was second and first secretary at the German missions in Paris, Munich, Washington, D.C., Brussels, St. Petersburg and London. In 1883 he was appointed Prussian envoy in Darmstadt, imperial envoy in Copenhagen in 1885, envoy in 1887 then ambassador in Madrid in 1888. He was ennobled on 5 May 1888 by King Frederick III, and was made a privy councilor in 1892.