James St Vincent Saumarez, 4th Baron de Saumarez (17 July 1843 – 25 April 1937), was a British diplomat and peer, for some forty-five years a member of the House of Lords.
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Early life
Saumarez was born in London on 17 July 1843, while his parents were living at 41, Prince's Gate, South Kensington. He was the eldest son of Colonel John Saumarez, 3rd Baron de Saumarez, an army officer, by his marriage to Caroline Esther Rhodes (1818–1846).
His paternal grandparents were Adm. James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez, and Martha Le Marchant. His maternal grandfather was William Rhodes of Kirskill Hall, Yorkshire, and Bramhope Hall, Yorkshire.
He was educated at Eton, Cheltenham College, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in the Lent term of 1861 and graduated BA in 1863, promoted to MA in 1867.
Career
After rising to the rank of captain in the Grenadier Guards, Saumarez joined the Diplomatic Service in 1867. His overseas postings were to Paris (1868), Berlin (1872), Athens (1873), Japan (1875), Paris and Rome (1880), and Brussels (1881). While in Paris in 1871, he was witness to the Commune rioting. In 1882, he served as Second Secretary in the British embassy to the King of the Belgians.



