Entered diplomatic service in 1905 as Consul-General at Pretoria; he served as a diplomat in South Africa, Norway, and the Caucasus and Crimea, and returned to academic research after retirement, circa 1922, when most of his writings were published.
His wife, born Anne Marguerite Sabatier, was also an Anglicist and coauthor with her husband of the first edition of the Concise Oxford French Dictionary; they married in 1899 and besides their son Claude had a daughter Lise, who lived to have children but died in 1933. Daniel also died in 1933, while Marguerite lived to 1969.
