Sir William Gore Ouseley (26 July 1797 – 6 March 1866) was a

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

diplomat who served in various roles in Washington, D.C., Rio de Janeiro and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. His main achievement were negotiations concerning ownership of Britain's interests in what is now Honduras and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

Career

Ouseley was born in London to the orientalist Sir

William Ouseley Sir William Ouseley HFRSE FSAScot (1767September, 1842), was a British orientalist. Early life Ouseley was born in Monmouthshire, the eldest son of Captain Ralph Ouseley and his wife Elizabeth (born Holland). He was tutored at home in the c ...

and his wife, Julia. He was attaché in Washington D.C. from 1825 to 1832, when he had his first book published.Historical Autographs
accessed 17 September 2007 The country of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

was effectively created in 1816, and he was amongst a group of Britons who assisted the new country gaining an advantage for Britain, negotiating contracts for expertise such as railways. Ouseley later served in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

in 1832 as a consul where he rose to the rank of minister. Not soon after that he was posted to

where he remained until 1850. His book concerning the

slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

which he published in 1850 is still (2007) in print. Ouseley was very well connected, having a Governor as a father-in-law, a sister-in-law who was also a judge in New York and another sister who had received a marriage proposal from US President James Buchanan.Private and confidential: Letter from British Ministers in Washington to the Foreign Secretaries in London 1844–67 by James J. Barnes, Patience P. Barnes, Published 1993 Susquehanna University Press He had but one blot on his record, having been recalled from Rio de Janeiro, although his superior was generous enough to admit that the argument that caused the recall was in hindsight found to be in Ouseley's favour. In the UK, both his father and his uncle, Sir

Gore Ouseley Sir Gore Ouseley, 1st Baronet GCH, PC (24 June 1770 – 18 November 1844), was a British entrepreneur, linguist and diplomat. He was born in 1770 and died at Hall Barn Park, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire in 1844. He negotiated an important ...

, were well-connected diplomats and gentleman scholars.

Special mission

In October 1858, he was sent on a special mission to San José in Costa Rica as a Special Envoy on the British warship '' Valorous''; William Synge served as secretary to the mission. Ouseley's objective was to resolve Britain's interests in Central America, particularly the

Bay Islands Bay Islands may refer to: * Bay Islands Department, Honduras * Southern Moreton Bay Islands, Queensland, Australia See also * Bay of Islands * Bay of Isles * Island Bay, Wellington * Little Bay Islands Little Bay Islands is a vacant town in ...

off Honduras, the

Mosquito Coast The Mosquito Coast, also known as the Mosquitia or Mosquito Shore, historically included the area along the eastern coast of present-day Nicaragua and Honduras. It formed part of the Western Caribbean Zone. It was named after the local Miskit ...

and Greytown (both now in

). His diplomatic activity in Costa Rica was favored by the fact that he was a relative of Sophia Joy, the British second wife of President José María Montealegre (1859-1863). In 1859, he negotiated a treaty concerning the British interests with Nicaragua and with Costa Rica which involved the President of Nicaragua personally. In early November, Ouseley required a change for his health and he announced his return to Britain before the treaty was signed. Within two weeks he had to return as his only son, William Charles Ouseley, had died at the age of 27 in Asunción, Paraguay due to an opium overdose.''The New York Times'', 15 November 1859.

Art and literature

Ouseley was also an early commentator on the legends which grew up around the historical figure Dick Whittington. Ouseley's ''Travels'' (1819) was among the first to publish that a cognate cat tale was to be found in the Persian manuscript of the ''Tarik al-Wasaf.'' The story is related thus:

In the tenth century, one Keis, the son of a poor widow in '' Síraf'', embarked for India, with his sole property, a cat, his only property. There he fortunately arrived at a time when the palace was so infested by mice or rats, that they invaded the king's food, and persons were employed to drive them from the royal banquet. Keis produced his cat; the noxious animals soon disappeared, and magnificent rewards were bestowed on the adventurer of ''Síraf'', who returned to that city, and afterwards, with his mother and brothers, settled on the island, which from him has been denominated Keis, or according to the Persians,
Keish Keish ( – July 11, 1916), also known as James Mason and by the nickname Skookum Jim Mason, was a member of the Tagish First Nation in what became the Yukon Territory of Canada. He was born near Bennett Lake on what is now the British Col ...
.

A little earlier, James Morier ''Second Journey'' (1818) also published the connection between Whittington's cat and the same tale, having heard the story told by the ambassador (i.e. Ouseley's uncle, Sir Gore).

Personal life

Whilst he was in America, he married Marcia Van Ness (d. 1881) in 1827, the 20-year-old daughter of the Governor of

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, Cornelius P. Van Ness (1782–1852).Ouseley family tree
accessed September 2007 *William Charles Ouseley (d. 1859), died aged 27 in Asunción, Paraguay due to an opium overdose. He died 6 March 1866, and his wife died in 1881.

Major works

* ''Remarks on the statistics and political institutions of the United States‚ with some observations on the ecclesiastical system of America‚ her sources of revenue'', 1832 * ''Notes on the Slave Trade‚ with Remarks on the Measures Adopted for its Suppression'', 1850 * ''A description of views in South America‚ from original drawings made in Brazil‚ the River Plate‚ the Parana'', 1852 * ''Views in South America, from original drawings made in Brazil, the River Plate, the Paraná, etc''. (London: Thomas McLean, 1852). Geyer Collection, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ouseley, William Gore 1797 births 1866 deaths Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Argentina