William Stuart (1824–96)
The Hon. Sir William Stuart KCMG CB (3 March 1824 – 1 April 1896) was a British diplomat who was Minister to Argentina, Greece and The Netherlands.
Career
William Stuart was the third son of General Robert Walter Stuart, 11th Lord Blantyre. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge.[1] He entered the Diplomatic Service in 1845 as unpaid attaché in Paris, and continued unpaid for six years until 1851.[2] In 1856 it fell to Stuart (by then with the rank of First Attaché at Paris) to carry back to London the Ratification, signed by the monarchs of the participating countries, of the Treaty of Paris (1856).[3]
In 1856 Stuart began a series of posts as Secretary of Legation, first at Rio de Janeiro,[4] then at Naples from 1859 until February 1861 when King Francis II was overthrown and the British legation at Naples was closed. Stuart was then appointed to Athens in October 1861,[5] to Washington, D.C. in October 1862,[6] to Constantinople in 1864[7] and to St Petersburg in 1866.[8]
In 1868 Stuart was appointed Minister to the Argentine Republic,[9] although in March 1871 he was in London acting as Protocolist to a conference on the European Commission of the Danube, when he was awarded the CB.[10] In 1872 he was appointed to be Minister to Greece,[11] and in 1877 to his final post as Minister to the Netherlands[12] and Luxembourg.[13] His duties there included negotiation of a bilateral treaty between Great Britain and Luxembourg on the extradition of criminals in 1880[14] (superseded by later European conventions, currently the European Arrest Warrant), and the North Sea Fisheries Convention of 1882. While at The Hague he was knighted KCMG in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1886.[15] He retired in 1888.
Family
Stuart married the eldest daughter of Major-General G. B. Tremenheere. Lady Stuart died, aged 52, on 3 January 1900.[16]
Offices held
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by George Buckley Mathew |
Minister Plenipotentiary to the Argentine Republic 1868–1872 |
Succeeded by Lionel Sackville-West |
| Preceded by Hon. Edward Erskine |
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of the Hellenes 1872–1877 |
Succeeded by Edwin Corbett |
| Preceded by Hon. Edward Harris |
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of the Netherlands 1877–1888 |
Succeeded by Sir Horace Rumbold, Bt |
References
- Obituary, The Times, London, 2 April 1896, page 10
- Catalogue of the Papers of Sir Andrew Buchanan, University of Nottingham
- Sir William Stuart: Papers – The National Archives
- Bolton Churchyard, East Lothian – The Scottish War Graves Project
- ↑ "Stuart, The Hon. William (STRT842W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ↑ Minutes of evidence taken before the Select Committee on Diplomatic Service, 13 May 1861, page 168, paragraph 1783ff.
- ↑ The London Gazette, 28 April 1856
- ↑ The London Gazette, 19 February 1858
- ↑ The London Gazette, 29 October 1861
- ↑ The London Gazette, 10 October 1862
- ↑ The London Gazette, 7 June 1864
- ↑ The London Gazette, 29 June 1866
- ↑ The London Gazette, 17 January 1868
- ↑ The London Gazette, 14 March 1871
- ↑ The London Gazette, 27 September 1872
- ↑ The Edinburgh Gazette, 9 November 1877
- ↑ The London Gazette, 2 December 1879
- ↑ Treaty Between Great Britain And Luxemburg For The Mutual Surrender Of Fugitive Criminals, 24 November 1880 – United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
- ↑ Supplement to the London Gazette, 29 May 1886
- ↑ "Obituaries - Lady Stuart" The Times (London). Monday, 7 January 1900. (36345), p. 7.