Sir Charles Kennedy 1890s by Alexander Bassano

Sir Charles Kennedy (12 October 1831 – 25 October 1908) was a senior British diplomat.

Early life

Charles Malcolm Kennedy was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the son of James Kennedy, Member of Parliament for Tiverton, and was educated at Blundell's School in Tiverton and at Caius College at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

(where he took two

firsts First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

Diplomatic career

Kennedy entered the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

in 1852. He served chiefly in the commercial branch, attaining the senior clerkship there early in the 1870s. This was his substantive appointment for many years, but he was almost constantly engaged on special services abroad, in particular: *His first deputation (1870–71) was to the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...

as president of a commission of inquiry into the Consular establishments *British Commissioner in Paris in connection with the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (concluded with the newly established republic in 1872) *On several occasions questions relating to interchange of commerce between

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

took him to Paris, the last of them being when he assisted

Sir Charles Dilke Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, 2nd Baronet, PC (4 September 1843 – 26 January 1911) was an English Liberal and Radical politician. A republican in the early 1870s, he later became a leader in the radical challenge to Whig control of the Liber ...

then Under-Foreign Secretary, to negotiate the subsisting Treaty. *In conjunction with Sir Edward Malet, the arrangements with

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in 1875 for the renewal of the commercial treaty signed eight years before. *The Joint Channel Tunnel Commission *Commission of commerce and industry at Brussels in 1880 *Senior British delegate to the North Sea Fisheries Conference in 1881 at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

(and was appointed

plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of his or her sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word ...

for the signature of the resulting Convention) *Senior British delegate to various international conferences on the protection of submarine cables held in Paris from 1882 to 1886 (Kennedy contributing powerfully to the resulting settlement) *Representing Great Britain at a conference at The Hague for the restriction of the liquor traffic in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

*Representing Great Britain in the negotiations in Paris regarding the Channel Fisheries.

Later life

Kennedy was appointed Knight of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1893, and retired from the public service in the following year. About this time he was appointed Commander of the Order of Leopold. From 1895 to 1902 Kennedy was lecturer on

international Law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

University College, Bristol University College, Bristol was an educational institution which existed from 1876 to 1909. It was the predecessor institution to the University of Bristol, which gained a royal charter in 1909. During its time the college mainly served the midd ...

, a number of those lectures being published. Many years earlier he had edited "Kennedy's Ethnological and Linguistic Essays" and he was also chairman of the Exmouth School Board from 1896 to the dissolution of separate school authorities under the

Education Act 1902 The Education Act 1902 ( 2 Edw. 7 c. 42), also known as the Balfour Act, was a highly controversial Act of Parliament that set the pattern of elementary education in England and Wales for four decades. It was brought to Parliament by a Conservat ...

, and an active member of the council of the Society of Arts.

References

*Obituary of Sir Charles Kennedy, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 26 October 1908 (pg. 11; Issue 38787; col C)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Charles 1831 births 1908 deaths People educated at Blundell's School Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge British diplomats Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Companions of the Order of the Bath