Robert William Cumberbatch

Robert William Cumberbatch (1821–1876) was a British diplomat who held the post of Consul in the Russian and Ottoman Empires.

Robert William Cumberbatch
Born1821
Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England
Died1876 (aged 54–55)
İzmir, Ottoman Empire
Resting placeBritish Cemetery at Smyrna
NationalityBritish
OccupationDiplomat
Years active1845–1876
Spouses
Ellen Lloyd
​
(m. 1843)​
    Louisa Grace Hanson
    ​
    (m. 1853)​
    Children10, including Henry Arnold Cumberbatch
    Relatives

    Life and career

    Cumberbatch was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, the son of Abraham Parry Cumberbatch (1784–1840), a wealthy slave owner in Barbados, and his second wife, Caroline Chaloner (1788–1840).[1][2]

    He first went to Istanbul in June 1845 to serve as secretary to his half-brother Abraham Carleton Cumberbatch, who had been promoted from Vice Consul to Consul General there on 3 May 1845.[3] Cumberbatch served as Acting Second Consul from May 1855 to June 1856, then as third Vice Consul until September 1857.[4] He was appointed Consul at Berdiansk on the Sea of Azov (now Ukraine, but then part of the Russian Empire) on 12 January 1858.[5][6][7] On 25 April 1864 he was appointed Consul at Smyrna[8] (now İzmir, Turkey), remaining in his post until his death.[9] Being in the diplomatic service in Smyrna, Cumberbatch enthusiastically struggled with slave trade.[10] He was buried at the British Cemetery at Smyrna on 30 March 1876.[4] Despite the disapproval of his superiors in the foreign service, he repeatedly attempted to draw attention to the slave trade in the Mediterranean in order to create pressure to ban it.[11]

    Personal life

    Cumberbatch was married twice. In 1843 he married Ellen Lloyd in Winkfield, Berkshire, and in 1853 he married Louisa Grace Hanson in Constantinople. Cumberbatch and Hanson had ten children:[4]

    • William Ernest Cumberbatch (1854–1855).
    • Robert Carlton Cumberbatch (1855–1868).
    • Constance Louisa Cumberbatch (1857–1922), married Sir Adam Samuel James Block (1856–1920).
    • Henry Arnold Cumberbatch (1858–1918), Consul at Smyrna from 1896 to 1908.
    • Arthur Herbert Cumberbatch (1860–1921), married Marian Dermina Tristram (1862–1917).
    • Edith Catherine Cumberbatch (1863–1867).
    • George Charles Cumberbatch (1865–1866).
    • Gertrude Evelyn Cumberbatch (1866–1924), married Albert Charles Wratislaw, the son of Albert Henry Wratislaw.
    • Alice Maud Cumberbatch (1868–1869).
    • Cyril James Cumberbatch (1873–1944).

    Through Henry Arnold Cumberbatch, his grandson was Commander Henry Carlton Cumberbatch RN, his great-grandson is actor Timothy Carlton, and his great-great-grandson is the actor Benedict Cumberbatch.

    References
    1. "Robert William Cumberbatch". RootsWeb.com. 15 November 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
    2. "Abraham Parry Cumberbatch: Profile & Legacies Summary". Legacies of British Slave-ownership. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
    3. "No. 20468". The London Gazette. 6 May 1845. p. 1360.
    4. "Ancestors of Charles Anthony Wratislaw" (PDF). Levantine Heritage Foundation. 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
    5. "No. 6774". The Edinburgh Gazette. 26 January 1858. p. 150.
    6. Konstantinova, Victoria; Lyman, Igor. "British Consul in Berdyansk Cumberbatch, Great-Great- Grandfather of Modern Sherlock Holmes".
    7. Igor Lyman, Victoria Konstantinova. The Ukrainian South as Viewed by Consuls of the British Empire (Nineteenth - Early Twentieth Centuries). Volume 1: British Consuls in the Port City of Berdyansk (Kyiv, 2018), pages 271-287
    8. "No. 22851". The London Gazette. 6 May 1864. p. 2459.
    9. "The Contributors: Cynthia Hill". Levantine Heritage: The story of a community. 2002. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
    10. Lyman Igor, Konstantinova Viktoria. British Consul in Berdyansk Cumberbatch, Great-great-grandfather of Modern Sherlock Holmes, in Scriptorium nostrum, 2017, № 2 (8), pages 195-207
    11. Frank, Alison (2012). "The Children of the Desert and the Laws of the Sea: Austria, Great Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and the Mediterranean Slave Trade in the Nineteenth Century". American Historical Review. 117 (2): 410–444.
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