Charles Kenneth Mackenzie (1788–1862) was a Scottish diplomat, writer and journalist.

Life

He was the eldest son of

Kenneth Francis Mackenzie Kenneth is an English given name and surname. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a byna ...

, who had plantation interests in the West Indies, and at the time of Fedon's Rebellion acted as president of the council in

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

; there are sources stating that Charles Mackenzie would have been classified as a

Negro In the English language, ''negro'' is a term historically used to denote persons considered to be of Black African heritage. The word ''negro'' means the color black in both Spanish and in Portuguese, where English took it from. The term can be ...

in the USA.

Colin Mackenzie Colonel Colin Mackenzie CB (1754–8 May 1821) was Scottish army officer in the British East India Company who later became the first Surveyor General of India. He was a collector of antiquities and an orientalist. He surveyed southern India, ...

was his brother. He was educated at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, where he befriended

James Cowles Prichard James Cowles Prichard, FRS (11 February 1786 – 23 December 1848) was a British physician and ethnologist with broad interests in physical anthropology and psychiatry. His influential ''Researches into the Physical History of Mankind'' touched ...

, and served in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1815.JSTOR Plant Science, ''MacKenzie, Charles Kenneth (1788-1862)''
/ref> He then edited a conservative evening paper, ''Albion''. Subsequently, he was a diplomat in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

; in Haiti at least he did intelligence work. Returning to England, he wrote for ''

The Metropolitan Magazine ''The Metropolitan: A monthly journal of literature, science, and the fine arts'' was a London monthly journal inaugurated in May 1831, originally edited by Thomas Campbell. It was then published by James Cochrane. ''The Metropolitan Magazine'' ...

'', under the editorship of

Cyrus Redding Cyrus Redding (1785–1870) was a British journalist and wine writer. Biography Redding was born in Cornwall. The son of a Baptist minister, he was privately educated. He moved to London about 1806, and worked for the ''Pilot'' (est. 1807) before ...

. During the latter part of his life he lived mostly in the United States, where he died on 6 July 1862 at a fire at the Rainbow Hotel on Beekman Street in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Mackenzie collected plants for

August Grisebach August Heinrich Rudolf Grisebach () was a German botany, botanist and phytogeography, phytogeographer. He was born in Hannover on 17 April 1814 and died in Göttingen on 9 May 1879. Biography Grisebach studied at the Lyceum in Hanover, the clo ...

and

William Jackson Hooker Sir William Jackson Hooker (6 July 178512 August 1865) was an English botanist and botanical illustrator, who became the first director of Kew when in 1841 it was recommended to be placed under state ownership as a botanic garden. At Kew he ...

Works

Mackenzie published ''Notes on Haiti'' in two volumes (1830), based on his period 1826–7 as British consul there, and including both economic statistics and social observations. Parts were republished shortly by

John Brown Russwurm John Brown Russwurm (October 1, 1799 – June 9, 1851) was an abolitionist, newspaper publisher, and colonizer of Liberia, where he moved from the United States. He was born in Jamaica to an English father and enslaved mother. As a child he t ...

, to publicise the

Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt ...

. * Mackenzie, Charles. ''Notes on Haïti, made during a residence in that Republic, Vol. 1, London, Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1830.'
Manioc
* Mackenzie, Charles. ''Notes on Haïti, made during a residence in that Republic, Vol. 2, London, Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1830.'
Manioc
Mackenzie wrote also for the ''

Edinburgh Review The ''Edinburgh Review'' is the title of four distinct intellectual and cultural magazines. The best known, longest-lasting, and most influential of the four was the third, which was published regularly from 1802 to 1929. ''Edinburgh Review'', ...

'', ''

Quarterly Review The ''Quarterly Review'' was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by 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 ...

'', and ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

''. Joseph Irving, ''The Book of Scotsmen Eminent for Achievements in Arms and Arts'' (1881) p. 306
archive.org

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackenzie, Charles 1788 births 1862 deaths Scottish diplomats Fellows of the Royal Society Accidental deaths in New York (state) Alumni of the University of Edinburgh British Army personnel of the Peninsular War 19th-century British diplomats Deaths from fire in the United States