Sir Horace (Horatio) Mann, 1st Baronet KB (8 August 1706 – 6 November 1786), was a long-standing

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

resident and diplomat in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Life and career

Mann was the second son of Robert Mann (1678–1751), a successful

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

merchant, and his wife, Eleanor Guise Mann. He was baptised at St Martin's in the Fields, Middlesex, on 22 August 1706, brought up in Chelsea, and educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and later, briefly, at

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...

. Suffering from poor health, he travelled on the continent in the 1730s. In February 1737, he was appointed as secretary to Charles Fane, the British Minister at Florence. He then served as

diplomatic representative there to the

Grand Dukes of Tuscany This is a list of grand dukes of Tuscany. The title was created on 27 August 1569 by a papal bull of Pope Pius V to Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I de' Medici, member of the illustrious House of Medici. His coronation took pl ...

for the rest of his life. In the course of his long diplomatic career, he was

Chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

in 1738-1740; Minister between 1740 and 1765;

Envoy Extraordinary An envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, usually known as a minister, was a diplomatic head of mission who was ranked below ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy was known as a legation rather than an embassy. Under the ...

from 1767; and finally Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary from 1782 until his death.D. B. Horn, ''British Diplomatic Representatives 1689-1789'' (Camden 3rd Ser. 46, 1932) As Great Britain had no diplomatic representation at

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Mann's duties included reporting on the activities of the exiled Stuarts,

the Old Pretender James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 16881 January 1766), nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs or the King over the Water by Jacobites, was the House of Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1701 until ...

and the Young Pretender. Mann kept an open house for British visitors at Palazzo Manetti, Florence, inviting them for ''conversazione'' when there was no performance at the theatre. His generosity and kindness was well known, although his close friendship with the painter Thomas Patch (expelled from Rome after a homosexual incident) reflected on his reputation.Hugh Belsey, "Mann, Sir Horatio, first baronet (bap. 1706, d. 1786)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Sept 2004. He met

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...

(to whom he was distantly related) in 1739, and conducted a now-renowned correspondence with him over forty years, though they last met in 1741. The correspondence was published by Lord Dover in 1833. In recognition of his service he was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

on 3 March 1755, and made a

Knight of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

on 26 October 1768, (when his nephew

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

stood proxy). In 1775, on the death of his elder brother, Edward Mann, Horace Mann inherited the Linton Park estate which his father had bought in

Linton, Kent Linton is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the southward slope of the Greensand ridge, south of Maidstone on the A229 Hastings road. The name Linton comes from Old English, proba ...

. Mann, a lover of

,http://www.elisarolle.com/queerplaces/fghij/Horace%20Walpole.html died unmarried in Florence on 6 November 1786 and was buried in Linton on 17 February 1787. His nephew, Horace, inherited his baronetcy by

special remainder In property law of the United Kingdom and the United States and other common law countries, a remainder is a future interest given to a person (who is referred to as the transferee or remainderman) that is capable of becoming possessory upon the ...

and also acted as Chargé d'affaires until the arrival of his replacement.

References

Notes Bibliography *Hugh Belsey
‘Mann, Sir Horatio, first baronet (bap. 1706, d. 1786)’
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2009, accessed 1 Nov 2009 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mann, Horace, 1st Baronet 1706 births 1786 deaths People educated at Eton College Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath Diplomats from Florence British diplomats 18th-century English LGBTQ people