Background
Spring Rice was born in County Meath, the youngest son of Thomas Spring Rice, 2nd Baron Monteagle of Brandon and Elizabeth Butcher.
Spring Rice was born in County Meath, the youngest son of Thomas Spring Rice, 2nd Baron Monteagle of Brandon and Elizabeth Butcher.
Eton College; Balliol College.
He was brought up on the family estate of Mount Trenchard House, and educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford. He entered His Majesty"s Diplomatic Service in 1907. He held appointments in Street St. Petersburg (1908-1910) and Washington District of Columbia (1910-1919), where he served alongside his relation, Sir Cecil Spring Rice, who was ambassador.
He later served in Paris and Brussels between 1920 and 1921, before hold positions in the Foreign Office between 1924 and 1930.
Spring Rice was sympathetic to the Irish Home Rule movement and, although he maintained the public façade of being a unionist, he was close to many people involved in nationalist politics. Alongside his father, he helped to arrange the Irish Convention in 1917, using his personal connections to ensure that the interests of Sinn Féin were represented after the party leadership refused to attend.