Richard Charles Francis Christian Meade, 3rd Earl of Clanwilliam GCH (15 August 1795 – 7 October 1879), styled Lord Gillford between 1800 and 1805, was a British

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

background. A protégée of the British Foreign Secretary

Lord Castlereagh Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, (18 June 1769 – 12 August 1822), usually known as Lord Castlereagh, derived from the courtesy title Viscount Castlereagh ( ) by which he was styled from 1796 to 1821, was an Irish-born British st ...

he played an active role in the

Concert of Europe The Concert of Europe was a general agreement among the great powers of 19th-century Europe to maintain the European balance of power, political boundaries, and spheres of influence. Never a perfect unity and subject to disputes and jockeying ...

in the post-

Napoleonic era The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and history of Europe, Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly (French Revoluti ...

Background and education

Meade was the only son of

Richard Meade, 2nd Earl of Clanwilliam Richard Meade, 2nd Earl of Clanwilliam (10 May 1766 – 3 September 1805) was an Irish peer, ''styled'' Lord Gilford from 1776 to 1800. Early life Richard was born on 10 May 1766. He was the eldest of ten children born of the heiress Theodosia ...

, and his Austrian wife, Countess Caroline von

Thun und Hohenstein The House of Thun und Hohenstein, also known as Thun-Hohenstein, belonged to the historical Austrian nobility, Austrian and Bohemian nobility. There is one princely and several count, comital branches of the family. The princely branch of the fami ...

, and succeeded in the earldom at the age of ten. His early years were spent in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, where his father had moved after a series of bitter quarrels with his own parents about his marriage and about their enormous debts, which deprived him of what should have been a great inheritance. After his father's death Richard was raised by relatives in England. He was educated at Eton. In his 1848

memoirs A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobio ...

François-René de Chateaubriand François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who influenced French literature of the nineteenth century. Descended from an old aristocratic family from Bri ...

writes of Meade that "at the head of the younger ondon dandies of the 1820s">dandies.html" ;"title="ondon dandies">ondon dandies of the 1820s. . . Lord Clanwilliam was prominent, the son, it was said, of the

Duc de Richelieu. He did wonderful things: he rode his horse to Richmond, London">Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

and returned to Almack's having fallen off twice. He had a certain trick of speaking in the manner of Alcibiades, which delighted."

Diplomatic and political career

Lord Clanwilliam joined the Diplomatic Service. He attended Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, Lord Castlereagh's suite at the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

in 1814 and was his private secretary from January 1817 to July 1819 in the latter's capacity as Foreign Secretary. He was one of the first people to see Castlereagh's widow after his

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

. It was he who was largely responsible for the decision to give Lord Castlereagh an official funeral in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

. He was one of many witnesses who later testified to Castlereagh's increasingly strange mental condition in the days before his suicide. He was formally appointed

Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was a junior position in the British government, subordinate to both the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (UK), Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and since 1945 also to ...

in 1822 after having acted in this role for a year and a half. However, he shortly thereafter resigned this role to become chef de chancellerie to the Duke of Wellington's mission at the

Congress of Verona The Congress of Verona met at Verona from 20 October to 14 December 1822 as part of the series of international conferences or congresses that opened with the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15, which had instituted the Concert of Europe at the ...

. He served as Envoy to Berlin from February 1823 to December 1827. In 1826 he was created grand cross of the Royal Guelphic Order and in 1828 Baron Clanwilliam, of Clanwilliam in the County of Tipperary, in the

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great B ...

. He was conferred a

Doctor of Civil Law Doctor of Civil Law (DCL; ) is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws (LLD) degrees. At Oxford, the degree is a higher doctorate usually awarded on the basis of except ...

from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 1834. In 1847 he was awarded the honorary position of Captain of Deal Castle, which he held until his death. He died at 32 Belgrave Square in London on 7 October 1879. His papers are held by the

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) is situated in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a division within the Engaged Communities Group of the Department for Communities (DfC). The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland is dist ...

Family

Lord Clanwilliam married Lady Elizabeth Herbert (1809–1858), daughter of George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke and his

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

wife Catherine Vorontsov on 3 July 1830; the couple had one daughter and four sons. He was brother in law of the Russian

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Mikhail Vorontsov. He was succeeded by his eldest son,

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

. His second son, Sir Robert Henry Meade, later achieved distinction as Permanent Under-Secretary of the Colonial Office. His second youngest son Sidney Meade (1839-1917) was Perpetual

Curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

of Christ Church in Bradford on Avon from 1882,

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Salisbury Cathedral Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Salisbury, England. The cathedral is regarded as one of the leading examples of Early English architecture, ...

and Justice of the Peace for

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

Lawrence Painting

His sister, Lady Selina Meade (later Countess of Clam-Martinic) was also famously painted by

Sir Thomas Lawrence Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English people, English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was a ...

. In 1823, Lawrence wrote to Clanwilliam, begging his friend to ‘let me have a fine line Engraving taken of Lady Selina’s Portrait..popular wherever she has appeared..I shall have it engraved by the most skilful artist, who will be but too happy to begin it’. Clanwilliam initially didn't like the idea about his sister being ‘in the window of the printshop’. In a letter to Lawrence in 1824 by Lord Leveson-Gower, Selina’s previous suitor, mentioned Clanwilliam’s reluctance to part with the picture for this purpose, and remarks of him needed to be ‘tranquilized’ over the prospect of his sister appearing on the print market. The print was published in 1828, entitled ‘Selina’ and showing the sitter without the spire of the Stefansdom in the distance, when it appeared as the frontispiece of the first edition of the journal, ''The Keepsake''.

References

External links