Count Edmund Bourke, also ''Edmond'' or ''Edmound Burke'' (November 2, 1761 in St. Croix - August 12, 1821 in Vichy, France) was a Danish diplomat who negotiated and signed the

Treaty of Kiel The Treaty of Kiel () or Peace of Kiel ( Swedish and or ') was concluded between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Sweden on one side and the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway on the other side on 14 January 1814 ...

Early life and family

Edmund Bourke was born in Danish-ruled St. Croix, where his father, Theobald Bourke, was a plantation owner and later judge. Theobald Bourke originally came from Ireland but obtained Danish citizenship in 1779.Edmund Bourke
"Dansk biografik leksikon"

Career

Edmund Bourke inherited a considerable fortune from his father and pursued a career as a Danish diplomat. In 1789 he became

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 ...

to Poland and from 1790-1792 was envoy to Poland, where he won the goodwill of King Stanislaus, who made him a knight of the Order of the White Eagle. In 1792 Bourke was sent as an envoy to the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples (; ; ), officially the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302). Until ...

, in 1797 to Stockholm and in 1801 to Spain, and he resided in Madrid for several years. In appreciation of his work, Bourke was made a Chamberlain in 1793 and in 1811 was awarded the Grand Cross of the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V of Denmark, Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the Order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single cla ...

. In January 1814 Bourke negotiated the

with Sweden and England. Bourke showed skill and determination despite Denmark's poor negotiating position, having been on the losing side before switching to the Allied side after the

Battle of Leipzig The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, was fought from 16 to 19 October 1813 at Leipzig, Saxony. The Coalition armies of Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia, led by Tsar Alexander I, Karl von Schwarzenberg, and G ...

. Under the treaty the United Kingdom returned all occupied Danish possessions other than the island of

Heligoland Heligoland (; , ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , ) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. The islands were historically possessions of Denmark, then became possessions of the United Kingdom from 1807 to 1890. Since 1890, the ...

, and the Danish king ceded

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

to the Kingdom of Sweden.Schäfer (2002), p. 137 On 8 February Russia was added to the peace treaty at Hanover. Bourke succeeded in obtaining as tolerable terms as possible, so that, for example, part of the Danish-Norwegian government debt was transferred to Norway by its separation from Denmark, and that the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland remained with Denmark. Bourke undeniably was assisted by the fact that the Swedish negotiator had no idea that these islands had previously belonged to Norway. The exemption formulated by Bourke was an addition to the Swedish draft treaty but the desire to clarify the exception of the Atlantic islands seems to have arisen as a consequence of English policy. Bourke became a Danish Privy Councillor in recognition of his work. Later Bourke was sent to the English court and in 1820 to France. However, Bourke quickly died in 1821 and was buried in Père-Lachaise Cemetery in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Personal life

Bourke married Maria Assunta Leonida Butini in 1798, a good-natured, lively Neapolitan woman who was his mistress before she became his wife.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Source
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourke, Edmund 1761 births 1821 deaths 17th-century Danish diplomats 18th-century Danish diplomats Danish people of Irish descent People from the Danish West Indies People from Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands Diplomats of Denmark–Norway