James St. Vincent Saumarez, 4th Baron de Saumarez

James St Vincent Saumarez, 4th Baron de Saumarez (17 July 1843 – 25 April 1937), was a British diplomat and peer, for some forty-five years a member of the House of Lords.

Early life Saumarez was born in London on 17 July 1843, while his parents were living at 41, Prince's Gate, South Kensington. He was the eldest son of Colonel John Saumarez, 3rd Baron de Saumarez, an army officer, by his marriage to Caroline Esther Rhodes (1818–1846).

His paternal grandparents were Adm. James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez, and Martha Le Marchant. His maternal grandfather was William Rhodes of Kirskill Hall, Yorkshire, and Bramhope Hall, Yorkshire.

He was educated at Eton, Cheltenham College, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in the Lent term of 1861 and graduated BA in 1863, promoted to MA in 1867. Saumarez joined the Diplomatic Service in 1867. Paris and Rome (1880), and Brussels (1881).

Estates In 1869, he exercised his droit de retraite (right of redemption) to buy Saumarez Park and the Le Guet estate at Castel on the island of Guernsey, after his father, the third Baron, had put the property up for sale. He spent many years in developing Saumarez Park, including building a Japanese house and temple there. and Livermore Park at Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. In London, they lived at 43 Grosvenor Place in Belgravia, which was close to Grosvenor Square (and, today, is directly opposite the American Embassy). Together, they were the parents of three daughters and a son:

Hon. Evelyn Saumarez (1883–1934), who married Sir John Wood, 2nd Baronet, son of Sir John Wood, 1st Baronet and Estelle Benham (a daughter of Henry Benham), in 1919. Hon. Marion Saumarez (1885–1978), an artist who never married. Hon. Gladys Saumarez (1887–1975), who died unmarried. James St Vincent Broke Saumarez, 5th Baron de Saumarez (1889–1969), who married Gunhild Balck, daughter of Maj.-Gen. Sir Viktor Gustaf Balck, in 1914. He died at Saumarez Park in 1937, and was succeeded by his son, James.

Descendants Saumarez had several grandchildren by his son and his daughter Evelyn. He is also the great-grandfather of the present peer, Eric Saumarez, 7th Baron de Saumarez.