The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Sternburg, Herman von Speck

STERNBURG, Herman von Speck, German diplomat: b. Leeds, England, 21 Aug. 1852; d. Heidelberg, Germany, 24 Aug. 1908. He was educated in the Fürstenschule Saint Afra, Meissen, Saxony, and the military academy of Potsdam, fought through the Franco-Prussian War in the Second Saxon dragoons, and remained in the military service until 1885. In 1890 he entered on his diplomatic career, being made successively first secretary of legation at Peking, charge d'affaires at Belgrade, Servia, and first secretary of the embassy at Washington. In 1898 he was high commissioner on the Samoan commission; became consul-general for British India and Ceylon in 1900, minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary to the United States in 1903, and ambassador in July 1903.