Sir Nathaniel William Wraxall, 1st Baronet (8 April 1751 – 7 November 1831) was an English author and politician.

Life

He was born in Queen Square, Bristol, the son of a Bristol merchant, Nathaniel Wraxall, and his wife Anne, great-niece of Sir James Thornhill, the painter. He entered the employment of the East India Company in 1769, and served as judge-advocate and paymaster during the expeditions against Gujarat and

Bharuch Bharuch (), formerly known as Broach, is a city at the mouth of the river Narmada in Gujarat in western India. Bharuch is the administrative headquarters of Bharuch District. The city of Bharuch and surroundings have been settled since tim ...

in 1771. In the following year he left the service of the company and returned to Europe. He visited Portugal and was presented to the court, of which he gives a curious account in his ''Historical Memoirs''. In the north of Europe he made the acquaintance of several Danish nobles who had been exiled for their support of the deposed Queen Caroline Matilda, sister of George III. Among them were notably Baron Frederik Ludvig Ernst Bülow (spouse of

Anna Sofie Bülow Anna Sofie von Bülow (1745-1787), was a Danish noble and courtier, known for her love life and unconventional life style, known in history as one of the Three Graces of the Danish royal court. Life She was the daughter of Christian Conrad Danne ...

), and Count Ernst Schimmelmann (son of

Caroline von Schimmelmann Caroline von Schimmelmann, née ''Tugendreich Friedeborn'' (1730–1795), was a Danish countess. Her parentage is unknown, but she was the foster daughter of Heinrich Ernst von Gersdorfs in Dresden, and given a good education by him. She marr ...

). Wraxall at their suggestion undertook to endeavour to persuade the king to act on her behalf. He was able to secure an interview with her at

Celle Castle Celle Castle (german: Schloss Celle) or, less commonly, Celle Palace, in the German town of Celle in Lower Saxony, was one of the residences of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg. This quadrangular building is the largest castle in the southern ...

in September 1774. His exertions are told in his Posthumous Memoirs. As the queen died on 11 May 1775, his schemes came to nothing and he complained that he was

out-of-pocket An out-of-pocket expense (or out-of-pocket cost, OOP) is the direct payment of money that may or may not be later reimbursed from a third-party source. For example, when operating a vehicle, gasoline, parking fees and tolls are considered out-of ...

, but George III took no notice of him for some time. In 1775 he published his first book, ''Cursory Remarks made in a Tour through some of the Northern Parts of Europe'', which reached its fourth edition by 1807, when it was renamed ''A Tour Round the Baltic''. In 1777 he travelled again in Germany and Italy. As he had by this time secured the patronage of important people, he obtained a complimentary lieutenant's commission from the king on the application of Lord Robert Manners, which gave him the right to wear uniform though he never performed any military service. He published his ''Memoirs of the Kings of France of the Race of Valois'', to which he appended an account of his tour in the Western, Southern and Interior Provinces of France. In 1778 he went again on his travels to Germany and Italy, and accumulated materials for his ''Memoirs of the Courts of Berlin, Dresden, Warsaw and Vienna'' (1799). In 1780, Wraxall entered Parliament in the Tory interest, and served as a Member for years. He was first elected from Hindon in Wiltshire. On 3 April 1784, he was elected from Ludgershall. He was still a supporter of Pitt when he was elected for Wallingford on 16 June 1790. He was defeated at a by-election in March 1794 by

Francis Sykes Francis Sykes may refer to: *Sir Francis Sykes, 1st Baronet (1732–1804), British diplomat, MP * Sir Francis Sykes, 2nd Baronet (c.1767–1804), MP for Wallingford * Sir Francis Sykes, 3rd Baronet (c.1799–1842), husband of Lady Henrietta Sykes, ...

. Wraxall then immediately began work on his French history in order to publish it the following year. He completed the beginning of a ''History of France from the Accession of Henry III to the Death of Louis XIV'', but it was never completed. Little is known of his later years except that he was made a baronet by the Prince Regent on 21 December 1813. His ''Historical Memoirs'' appeared in 1815, when he subsequently removed to Wraxall House, Charlton Kings, near Cheltenham. Both they and the ''Posthumous Memoirs'' (1836) are very readable and have real historical value. Wraxall believed that the government of the day, furious at his truthfulness, was behind a libel action which sent him to prison for three months in 1816. Hence the posthumous publication of the later memoirs. He died suddenly at

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

on 7 November 1831, while travelling to Naples.

Family

Wraxall married Miss Jane Lascelles, daughter of Peter Lascelles, in 1789.''The historical and the posthumous memoirs of Sir Nathaniel William Wraxall''
/ref> He was survived by two sons, Lieutenant-colonel William Lascelles Wraxall, second baronet (1791–1863), and Lt. Charles Edward Wraxall RA (1792–1854), the father of Sir

Frederic Charles Lascelles Wraxall Sir Frederic Charles Lascelles Wraxall, 3rd Baronet (1828 – 11 June 1865), was a miscellaneous writer. Life He was educated at Shrewsbury, where he was Dyke scholar, and matriculated from St Mary Hall, Oxford, on 26 May 1842, but left the uni ...

(1828–1865), who was a miscellaneous writer.

Notes

References

* * * *Preface to ''The Historical and Posthumous Memoirs of Sir N. W. Wraxall'', by H. B. Wheatley (London, 1884).

External links

Nathaniel William Wraxall
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wraxall, Nathaniel 1751 births 1831 deaths 19th-century English historians Wraxall, Nathaniel, 1st Baronet Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies English travel writers 18th-century English historians