Sir Robert Henry Meade (16 December 1835 – 8 January 1898) was a British

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

and the Head of the Colonial Office between 1892 and 1897.

Life

Meade was the second son of the 3rd Earl of Clanwilliam and Lady Elizabeth Herbert. Clanwilliam, an Irish peer, had served as Private Secretary to Lord Castlereagh and subsequently as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Meade was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

and matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford in 1854, graduating B.A. in 1859 and M.A. in 1860. He formed a close and affectionate relationship with his mother’s brother, Sidney Herbert. In 1859, he sat the examination for the Foreign Office, which he entered as a third class clerk. The work of a junior clerk in the Foreign Office at the time was tedious, consisting mostly of the copying of confidential documents, but the hours were short (11.00 am to 5.00 pm) and the holidays long. Meade escaped this routine in 1860, when he was chosen to accompany Lord Dufferin on his mission to

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

as Commissioner, and again in 1861-1862, when he accompanied the Prince of Wales on an Eastern tour. Following his return, Meade was in attendance on the Queen during her visit to Coburg later in 1862. In June 1864, he was appointed as Private Secretary to

Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville Granville George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville, (11 May 181531 March 1891), styled Lord Leveson until 1846, was a British Liberal statesman and diplomat from the Leveson-Gower family. He is best remembered for his service as Secretary ...

. In 1868, Meade followed Lord Granville to the Colonial Office, then briefly to 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 ...

when Granville became

Foreign Secretary The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...

in 1870; but Meade returned to the Colonial Office in 1871 as Assistant Under-Secretary, becoming

Permanent Under-Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior civil servant of a department or ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil se ...

in 1892. In December 1896, he fell and broke his leg, an injury from which he never recovered: it forced his retirement in March 1897 and he died soon after, in January 1898.

Reputation

Lord Ripon, the Liberal Colonial Secretary between 1892 and 1895, wrote to him in 1895: Edward Walter Hamilton wrote in his diary on the occasion of Meade's death: "He had great personal charm and throughout his extraordinary fateful life his pluck never failed him."

Family

Meade married, first, Lady Mary Elizabeth Lascelles (the daughter of the 3rd Earl of Harewood), who died in 1866. Their daughter, Mary, died in 1897. He married, secondly, Caroline Georgiana Grenfell (the daughter of Charles William Grenfell MP), who died in 1881. They had one son,

Charles Francis Meade Charles Francis Meade (born 25 February 1881 – died 1975) was an English mountaineer and author. Origins Born in England, Meade was the only surviving child of the Hon. Sir Robert Henry Meade and Caroline Georgiana Grenfell. His mother died sh ...

(1881–1975).

References

Sources

*http://www.proni.gov.uk/records/private/clanwm.htm *"Death Of Sir Robert Meade", ''The Times'', London, 10 January 1898, page 9

External links

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Meade, Robert Henry Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for the Colonies Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Members of HM Foreign Service Private secretaries in the British Civil Service Civil servants in the Colonial Office Principal Private Secretaries to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Younger sons of earls 1898 deaths 1835 births