Sir Alexander Malet, 2nd Baronet (1800–1886) was an English diplomat and writer.

Life

The eldest son of

Sir Charles Malet, 1st Baronet Sir Charles Warre Malet, 1st Baronet (30 December 1752 – 24 January 1815) was a British Empire, British diplomat who served in the British East India Company as a Resident (title), Resident in the court of the Peshwa Marathas. He was the old ...

, born at Hartham Park,

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 ...

in June 1800, he succeeded to the baronetcy in 1815. He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

and at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

(B.A. 1822), and entered the diplomatic service in 1824 as unpaid attaché at

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. There he was an eye-witness to the

Decembrist revolt The Decembrist revolt () was a failed coup d'état led by liberal military and political dissidents against the Russian Empire. It took place in Saint Petersburg on , following the death of Emperor Alexander I. Alexander's brother and heir ...

of 1825. Malet later became secretary of legation at

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

under Lord Howden during the Miguelite war of 1832–1834. He served in a similar post at

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

, and was then secretary of the embassy at

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. ...

, and British minister at

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

. In 1849 Malet became minister plenipotentiary to the Germanic Confederation at

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, and there formed a close friendship with

Prince Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...

. He was in post from the

Revolution in Baden The Baden Revolution () of 1848/1849 was a regional uprising in the Grand Duchy of Baden which was part of the revolutionary unrest that gripped almost all of Central Europe at that time. As part of the popular liberal March Revolution in the ...

, to the

battle of Sadowa A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

, and the expulsion of Austria from the Confederation. On the fall of the Germanic confederation in 1866, Malet retired on a pension, and was made a K.C.B. He died on 28 November 1886.

Works

Malet was the author of: * ''Some Account of the System of Fagging at Winchester School, with Remarks … on the late Expulsions thence for resistance to the Authority of the Prefects'', London, 1828; * An English metrical translation of Wace's ''

Roman de Rou ''Roman de Rou'' (" Romance of Rollo") is a verse chronicle by Wace in Norman covering the history of the Dukes of Normandy from the time of Rollo of Normandy to the Battle of Tinchebray in 1106. It is a national epic of Normandy. Following ...

'', London, 1860; and of * ''The Overthrow of the Germanic Confederation by Prussia in 1866'', London, 1870.

Family

In 1834 Malet married Marianne Dora, only daughter of John Spalding, of the Holm, Scotland and stepdaughter of

Lord Brougham Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, (; 19 September 1778 – 7 May 1868) was a British statesman who became Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and played a prominent role in passing the Reform Act 1832 and Slavery ...

. They had two sons, Lieutenant-colonel Sir Henry Charles Eden Malet, 3rd Baronet, and

Edward Malet Sir Edward Baldwin Malet, 4th Baronet (10 October 1837 – 29 June 1908) was a British diplomat. Edward Malet came from a family of diplomats; his father was Sir Alexander Malet, British minister to Württemberg and later to the German Co ...

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Malet, Alexander 1800 births 1886 deaths Deputy lieutenants of Wiltshire British diplomats English writers Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain Nobility from Wiltshire