Sir George Shee, 2nd Baronet (14 June 1785, in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

– 25 January 1870, in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

) was an Irish diplomat.

Life

George Shee was the eldest son of

Sir George Shee, 1st Baronet Sir George Shee, 1st Baronet (1758–1825) was a British East India Company official, politician, and landlord. He was made a baronet in 1794. He was Surveyor General of the Ordnance in Ireland from 1797 to 1799 and also sat in the Parliament o ...

and Elizabeth Maria Crisp. He was educated at Sandy Mount, near

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, where he graduated B.A. in 1806 and M.A. in 1811. He was admitted to

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

in 1802. At Cambridge he formed a friendship with

Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865), known as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman and politician who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1855 to 1858 and from 1859 to 1865. A m ...

, and supported him at elections. There resulted in 1810 an appointment for Shee as Agent-General from volunteers and disembodied militia. This position given to him by Palmerston lasted to 1817. On 3 February 1825 Shee succeeded his father in the Shee Baronetcy, and lived at Dunmore House,

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

. He was J.P. and D.L. for Galway, and High Sheriff of County Galway in 1828. From November 1830 to 1834 Shee served in the Whig Government as

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 ...

. He was Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Prussia at

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

from 1834 to 1835, Minister Plenipotentiary to Württemberg at

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

from 1835 to 1844, and a diplomat to

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

from 1841 to 1844. Shee also wrote articles on foreign policy for '' The Globe''. He died without heir on 25 January 1870 in London.

Family

On 4 January 1808 Shee married his first wife, Jane, the eldest daughter of William Young of

Harley Street Harley Street is a street in Marylebone, Central London, named after Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. She died in October 1832, in a boating accident. Shee then married in 1841 Sarah, third daughter of Henry Barrett of Denton, his mistress, against social convention. When Shee died, his estate including interests in County Durham mines passed to a nephew: he was George Edward Dering, son of Shee's sister Letitia. Shee's maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Crisp, born Marsh, is the central character in

Linda Colley Dame Linda Jane Colley (born 13 September 1949 in Chester, England) is an expert on British, imperial and global history from 1700. She is Shelby M. C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University and a long-term fellow in history at ...

's book, ''The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh''.Harper Press, 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shee, George, 2nd Baronet 1785 births 1870 deaths 19th-century Irish people Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge British diplomats High sheriffs of County Galway Irish expatriates in British India People from County Kilkenny People from County Galway 2