Edward Henry Strobel

Edward Henry Strobel (December 7, 1855 – January 15, 1908) was a United States diplomat and a scholar in international law.

Strobel was born in Charleston, South Carolina on December 7, 1855. He was educated at Harvard College and at Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1883. In 1885 he was appointed Secretary of the Legation of the United States to Spain, serving until 1890.[1]

Based on notes from his period in Madrid, Strobel wrote a book on the Spanish revolution in 1868.[2] Strobel returned to become Third Assistant Secretary of State in Washington, D.C. during 1893-1894. He served as U.S. Minister to Ecuador in 1894, and to Chile from 1894 to 1897. He returned to Boston in 1898 to become the Bemis Professor of International Law.

In 1903 Strobel took a leave of absence to represent the Kingdom of Siam at the International Peace Court in The Hague in 1903. In 1906 he moved to Bangkok to become the American Adviser in Foreign Affairs to the government King Chulalongkorn of Siam.[3][4][5]

Edward Strobel died in Bangkok, Siam on January 15, 1908. He had suffered blood poisoning after a long illness that started with the bite of an insect in Egypt two years earlier.[6] He was cremated in a ceremony on February 5, at which King Chulalongkorn himself lighted the funeral pyre.[7] There is a memorial stone dedicated to Strobel in the churchyard of the Unitarian Church in his hometown Charleston, South Carolina.

See also

• Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns – Belgian predecessor and first modern foreign advisor
• Francis Bowes Sayre, Sr. – American successor

References

1. "NATIONAL CAPITAL TOPICS.; APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE" (PDF). New York Times. Washington. June 23, 1885. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
2. Strobel, Edward Henry (1898). The Spanish Revolution, 1868-1875. Boston: Small, Maynard. pp. 293.
3. "TO BE SIAM'S ADVISER.; Prof. Strobel of Harvard Resigns to Take New Post". New York Times. Cambridge: The New York Times Company. December 1, 1906. p. 1. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
4. Oblas, Peter (1972). "Treaty Revision and the Role of the American Foreign Affairs Adviser 1909-1925" (free). Journal of the Siam Society. Siam Heritage Trust. JSS Vol. 60.1 (digital): images 2–4, 10–13. Retrieved March 17, 2013. Edward Strobel was the first American Adviser in Foreign Affairs.
5. Numnonda, Thamsook (1974). "The First American Advisers in Thai History" (PDF). Journal of the Siam Society. Siam Society. JSS Vol.62.2f (digital). Retrieved September 7, 2013. The eventful forty-two year reign of King Chulalongkorn of Thailand (1868-1910) was a landmark in Thai history. It was the period that Thailand began to develop herself into a modern state, with the abolition of extrality (extraterritoriality), the negotiations of treaties, the reform of law and judicial administration, and the reorganization of governmental agencies. The achievement of these aims was, in fact, partly due to the work of the "foreign advisers" who shared roles in the affairs of this small Asian country.
6. "EDWARD H. STROBEL DEAD.; Had Been General Adviser of the Government of Siam Since 1903" (PDF). New York Times. Bangkok. January 13, 1908. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
7. "KING LIGHTS STROBEL'S PYRE.; Body of American Adviser to Chulalongkorn of Siam Cremated Yesterday". New York Times. February 6, 1909. Retrieved 20 May 2019.

External links

• Strobel's memorial in Bangkok at Find a Grave
• Strobel's memorial in Charleston at Find a Grave