![MalletArms](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/MalletArms.png)
Sir Alexander Malet, 2nd Baronet (1800–1886) was an English diplomat and writer.
Life
The eldest son of
Sir Charles Malet, 1st Baronet
Sir Charles Warre Malet, 1st Baronet (30 December 1752 – 24 January 1815) was a British diplomat who served in the British East India Company as a Resident in the court of the Peshwa Marathas.
He was the oldest son of Alexander Malet (1704– ...
, born at
Hartham Park
Hartham Park is a Georgian manor house in Wiltshire, England, about north of the town of Corsham. Originally designed by James Wyatt, and set today in , it has within its grounds a stické tennis court. The house and nearby buildings were dev ...
,
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
in June 1800, he succeeded to the baronetcy in 1815. He was educated at
Winchester College
Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...
and at
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...
(B.A. 1822), and entered the diplomatic service in 1824 as unpaid attaché at
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. There he was an eye-witness to the
Decembrist revolt
The Decembrist Revolt ( ru , Восстание декабристов, translit = Vosstaniye dekabristov , translation = Uprising of the Decembrists) took place in Russia on , during the interregnum following the sudden death of Emperor Al ...
of 1825.
Malet later became secretary of legation at
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
under
Lord Howden during the
Miguelite war of 1832–1834. He served in a similar post 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 then secretary of the embassy at
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, and British minister at
Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...
.
In 1849 Malet became minister plenipotentiary to the
Germanic Confederation at
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
, and there formed a close friendship with
Prince Bismarck
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...
. He was in post from the
Revolution in Baden
The Baden Revolution (german: Badische Revolution) of 1848/1849 was a regional uprising in the Grand Duchy of Baden which was part of the revolutionary unrest that gripped almost all of Central Europe at that time.
As part of the popular libera ...
, to the
battle of Sadowa
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
, and the expulsion of Austria from the Confederation.
On the fall of the Germanic confederation in 1866, Malet retired on a pension, and was made a K.C.B. He died on 28 November 1886.
Works
Malet was the author of:
* ''Some Account of the System of Fagging at Winchester School, with Remarks … on the late Expulsions thence for resistance to the Authority of the Prefects'', London, 1828;
* An English metrical translation of Wace's ''
Roman de Rou
''Roman de Rou'' is a verse chronicle by Wace in Norman covering the history of the Dukes of Normandy from the time of Rollo of Normandy to the battle of Tinchebray in 1106. It is a national epic of Normandy.
Following the success of his ''Roma ...
'', London, 1860; and of
* ''The Overthrow of the Germanic Confederation by Prussia in 1866'', London, 1870.
Family
In 1834 Malet married Marianne Dora, only daughter of John Spalding, of the Holm, Scotland and stepdaughter of
Lord Brougham
Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, (; 19 September 1778 – 7 May 1868) was a British statesman who became Lord High Chancellor and played a prominent role in passing the 1832 Reform Act and 1833 Slavery Abolition Act. ...
. They had two sons, Lieutenant-colonel Sir Henry Charles Eden Malet, 3rd Baronet, and
Edward Malet
Sir Edward Baldwin Malet, 4th Baronet (10 October 1837 – 29 June 1908) was a British diplomat.
Edward Malet came from a family of diplomats; his father was Sir Alexander Malet, British minister to Württemberg and later to the German Co ...
.
Notes
Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malet, Alexander
1800 births
1886 deaths
Deputy Lieutenants of Wiltshire
British diplomats
English writers
Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain
People from Wiltshire