Oil on canvas. Sir James Beethom Whitehead entered the diplomatic service in 1881. He served at Petrograd, Rio de Janeiro and Berlin, and was First Secretary at Tokyo, Brussels and Constantinople. He was Councillor of the Embassy in Berlin from 1903 to 1906 and His Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Belgrade between 1906 and 1910. This portrait was painted in 1907, while Sir James held his position in Belgrade. The decoration was added later, in 1915, by Dorofield Hardy. His home was Efford Park in Lymington, Hampshire, which was purchased by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1953.
