Charles Arbuthnot
Encyclopedia
Charles Arbuthnot was a British
diplomat and Tory politician. He was Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire between 1804 and 1807 and held a number of political offices. He was a good friend of the Duke of Wellington
. His second wife, Harriet
, became a hostess at Wellington's society dinners, and wrote an important diary cataloguing contemporary political intrigues.
, General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot
and General Sir Robert Arbuthnot
. He was born in Rockfleet, County Mayo
, Ireland
, but much of his upbringing was with his mother's relations, the Stone family.
for East Looe
between 1795 and 1796, for Eye
between 1809 and 1812, for Orford
between 1812 and 1818, for St Germans
between 1818 and 1827, for St Ives
between 1828 and 1830 and for Ashburton
between 1830 and 1831. He served under Henry Addington
as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
between November 1803-June 1804, under Spencer Perceval
and the Earl of Liverpool
as Joint Secretary to the Treasury
between 1809 and 1823, under Liverpool as First Commissioner of Woods and Forests between 1823 and 1827 and under the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
as First Commissioner of Woods and Forets in 1828 and as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
between 1828 and 1830.
Arbuthnot also held a number of diplomatic postings, notably as Consul General in Portugal
between 1800 and 1801, as Minister to Sweden between 1802 and 1804 and as Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire between 1804 and 1807. In 1804 he was sworn of the Privy Council.
Arbuthnot was first married on 28 February 1799 to Marcia Mary Anne Clapcott Lisle, at Cholmondeley House, Piccadilly
. His first wife was born on 9 July 1774, and had been Lady-in-Waiting
since 1795 to Caroline of Brunswick
, Princess of Wales. Marcia's portrait was painted by John Hoppner
and an engraving of the portrait was made by Joshua Reynolds
. The couple's four children included General Charles George James Arbuthnot
and Marcia Arbuthnot, who later married William Cholmondeley, 3rd Marquess of Cholmondeley
. She died in Constantinople
on 24 May 1806.
After being widowed, Arbuthnot married a second time on 31 January 1814 at Fulbeck
, Lincolnshire
, to Harriet Fane
(1793–1834), a daughter of the Hon. Henry Fane. Harriet was fascinated by politics. During her marriage to Arbuthnot, she became a hostess at society dinners given by Arbuthnot's good friend, the Duke of Wellington
. During the latter years of Arbuthnot's life, after the death of Harriet, he lived in Apsley House
, the Duke's London residence, as his confidential friend. Their story is told in Wellington and the Arbuthnots by E. A. Smith. which refutes the suggestion that Harriet was Wellington's mistress.
Harriet's portrait was also painted by John Hoppner and it is now in Foundation Lazzaro Galdiano, Madrid
. Sir Thomas Lawrence
's portrait of her is at Woodford, Northamptonshire
. Her diaries were published as The Journal of Mrs Arbuthnot in 1950.
Arbuthnot died at Apsley House in August 1850, aged 83. S. Gambardello's portrait of him is at Apsley House.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
diplomat and Tory politician. He was Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire between 1804 and 1807 and held a number of political offices. He was a good friend of the Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
. His second wife, Harriet
Harriet Arbuthnot
Harriet Arbuthnot was an early 19th century English diarist, social observer and political hostess on behalf of the Tory party. During the 1820s she was the "closest woman friend" of the hero of Waterloo and British Prime Minister, the 1st Duke of Wellington...
, became a hostess at Wellington's society dinners, and wrote an important diary cataloguing contemporary political intrigues.
Background
Arbuthnot was son of John Arbuthnot of Rockfleet and brother of bishop Alexander ArbuthnotAlexander Arbuthnot (bishop)
Alexander Arbuthnot was Bishop of Killaloe and Kilfenora in the then-established Church of Ireland.He was born in Rockfleet Castle, County Mayo, Ireland, on 7 May 1768, the son of John Arbuthnot of Rockfleet. Among his siblings were the Right Honourable Charles Arbuthnot and General Sir Thomas...
, General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot
Thomas Arbuthnot
Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot KCB was a British Army commander.-Military career:He was born in Rockfleet Castle, County Mayo, Ireland, the sixth son of John Arbuthnot, Sr of Rockfleet....
and General Sir Robert Arbuthnot
Robert Arbuthnot
General Sir Robert Arbuthnot, KCB, was born at Rockfleet Castle, County Mayo, Ireland, on 19 November 1773 fourth son of John Arbuthnot Senior of Rockfleet, Co Mayo. He was a General in the army, a colonel in the 76th Regiment. He was a Brigadier General in the Portuguese Service and was appointed...
. He was born in Rockfleet, County Mayo
County Mayo
County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, but much of his upbringing was with his mother's relations, the Stone family.
Political and diplomatic career
Arbuthnot sat as Member of ParliamentMember of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for East Looe
East Looe (UK Parliament constituency)
East Looe was a parliamentary borough represented in the House of Commons of England from 1571 to 1707, in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1797 to 1800, and finally in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 until its abolition in 1832. It elected two Members of Parliament ...
between 1795 and 1796, for Eye
Eye (UK Parliament constituency)
Eye was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected two Members of Parliament by the bloc vote system of election...
between 1809 and 1812, for Orford
Orford (UK Parliament constituency)
Orford was a constituency of the House of Commons. Consisting of the town of Orford in Suffolk, it elected two Members of Parliament by the bloc vote version of the first past the post system of election until it was disenfranchised in 1832.-History:...
between 1812 and 1818, for St Germans
St Germans (UK Parliament constituency)
St Germans was a rotten borough in Cornwall which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in the English and later British Parliament from 1562 to 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-History:...
between 1818 and 1827, for St Ives
St Ives (UK Parliament constituency)
St. Ives is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-History:...
between 1828 and 1830 and for Ashburton
Ashburton (UK Parliament constituency)
Ashburton was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament at Westminster, for one Parliament in 1298 and regularly from 1640 until it was abolished for the 1868 general election. It was one of three Devon borough constituencies newly enfranchised in the Long...
between 1830 and 1831. He served under Henry Addington
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, PC was a British statesman, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804....
as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
|The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has been a junior position in the British government since 1782, subordinate to both the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and since 1945 also to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs...
between November 1803-June 1804, under Spencer Perceval
Spencer Perceval
Spencer Perceval, KC was a British statesman and First Lord of the Treasury, making him de facto Prime Minister. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated...
and the Earl of Liverpool
Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool KG PC was a British politician and the longest-serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since the Union with Ireland in 1801. He was 42 years old when he became premier in 1812 which made him younger than all of his successors to date...
as Joint Secretary to the Treasury
Secretary to the Treasury
In the United Kingdom, there are several Secretaries to the Treasury, who are junior Treasury ministers nominally acting as secretaries to HM Treasury. The origins of the office are unclear, although it probably originated during Lord Burghley's tenure as Lord Treasurer in the 16th century. The...
between 1809 and 1823, under Liverpool as First Commissioner of Woods and Forests between 1823 and 1827 and under the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
as First Commissioner of Woods and Forets in 1828 and as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is, in modern times, a ministerial office in the government of the United Kingdom that includes as part of its duties, the administration of the estates and rents of the Duchy of Lancaster...
between 1828 and 1830.
Arbuthnot also held a number of diplomatic postings, notably as Consul General in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
between 1800 and 1801, as Minister to Sweden between 1802 and 1804 and as Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire between 1804 and 1807. In 1804 he was sworn of the Privy Council.
Personal life
Piccadilly
Piccadilly is a major street in central London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is completely within the city of Westminster. The street is part of the A4 road, London's second most important western artery. St...
. His first wife was born on 9 July 1774, and had been Lady-in-Waiting
Lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...
since 1795 to Caroline of Brunswick
Caroline of Brunswick
Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was the Queen consort of King George IV of the United Kingdom from 29 January 1820 until her death...
, Princess of Wales. Marcia's portrait was painted by John Hoppner
John Hoppner
John Hoppner was an English portrait painter, .-Early life:Hoppner was born in Whitechapel, London, the son of German parents - his mother was one of the German attendants at the royal palace. King George's fatherly interest and patronage of the young boy gave rise to rumours, quite unfounded,...
and an engraving of the portrait was made by Joshua Reynolds
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
. The couple's four children included General Charles George James Arbuthnot
Charles George James Arbuthnot
General Charles George James Arbuthnot, DL was a British general.Arbuthnot was born at sea aboard the frigate Juno and raised at Woodford, Northamptonshire. His father, Charles Arbuthnot, was a prominent Tory politician and confidant of the Duke of Wellington...
and Marcia Arbuthnot, who later married William Cholmondeley, 3rd Marquess of Cholmondeley
William Cholmondeley, 3rd Marquess of Cholmondeley
William Henry Hugh Cholmondeley, 3rd Marquess of Cholmondeley , styled Lord William Cholmondeley from 1815 until 1870, was a British peer and Conservative Member of Parliament.-Background:...
. She died in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
on 24 May 1806.
After being widowed, Arbuthnot married a second time on 31 January 1814 at Fulbeck
Fulbeck
Fulbeck is a small village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the A607, north from Grantham and north-west from Sleaford. To the north is Leadenham, and to the south is Caythorpe.-Toponymy:...
, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, to Harriet Fane
Harriet Arbuthnot
Harriet Arbuthnot was an early 19th century English diarist, social observer and political hostess on behalf of the Tory party. During the 1820s she was the "closest woman friend" of the hero of Waterloo and British Prime Minister, the 1st Duke of Wellington...
(1793–1834), a daughter of the Hon. Henry Fane. Harriet was fascinated by politics. During her marriage to Arbuthnot, she became a hostess at society dinners given by Arbuthnot's good friend, the Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
. During the latter years of Arbuthnot's life, after the death of Harriet, he lived in Apsley House
Apsley House
Apsley House, also known as Number One, London, is the former London residence of the Dukes of Wellington. It stands alone at Hyde Park Corner, on the south-east corner of Hyde Park, facing south towards the busy traffic interchange and Wellington Arch...
, the Duke's London residence, as his confidential friend. Their story is told in Wellington and the Arbuthnots by E. A. Smith. which refutes the suggestion that Harriet was Wellington's mistress.
Harriet's portrait was also painted by John Hoppner and it is now in Foundation Lazzaro Galdiano, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
. Sir Thomas Lawrence
Thomas Lawrence (painter)
Sir Thomas Lawrence RA FRS was a leading English portrait painter and president of the Royal Academy.Lawrence was a child prodigy. He was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper. At the age of ten, having moved to Bath, he was supporting his family with his...
's portrait of her is at Woodford, Northamptonshire
Woodford, Northamptonshire
Woodford is a large village and civil parish in East Northamptonshire, England. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 1,290 people....
. Her diaries were published as The Journal of Mrs Arbuthnot in 1950.
Arbuthnot died at Apsley House in August 1850, aged 83. S. Gambardello's portrait of him is at Apsley House.
External links
- Arbuthnot family tree by Sir George Hayter from the National Portrait Gallery