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.