James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury
| James Harris | |
|---|---|
The Earl of Malmesbury
|
|
| Born |
21 April 1746 Salisbury, Wiltshire, England |
| Died | 21 November 1820 (aged 74) |
| Title | Earl of Malmesbury |
| Tenure | 1800–1820 |
| Other titles | Viscount Fitzharris |
| Successor | James Harris, 2nd Earl of Malmesbury |
| Spouse(s) | Harriot Mary Amyand |
| Issue | Lady Frances Harris Lady Catherine Harris James Harris, 2nd Earl of Malmesbury Rev. Hon. Thomas Alfred Harris |
James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury GCB (21 April 1746 – 21 November 1820) was an English diplomat.
Born at Salisbury, the son of James Harris, an MP and the author of Hermes, and Elizabeth Clarke of Sandford, Somerset. He was educated at Winchester, Oxford and Leiden.
Harris arrived in Spain in December 1768 and became secretary to the British embassy at Madrid, and was left as chargé d'affaires at that court on the departure of Sir James Grey in August 1769 until the arrival of George Pitt, afterwards Lord Rivers. This interval gave him his opportunity; he discovered the intention of Spain to attack the Falkland Islands, and was instrumental in thwarting it by putting on a bold countenance. As a reward he was appointed minister ad interim at Madrid.
In January 1772 Harris was appointed envoy-extraordinary to Prussia in Berlin, arriving on 21 February. Within a month of his arrival he became the first diplomat to hear of Frederick the Great's partition of Poland with the cooperation of Russia. His service in this office was undistinguished but he made an impression on Frederick, who requested that he be reappointed.
Harris married Harriet Maria Amyand (1761 – 20 August 1830), the youngest daughter of Sir George Amyand MP (1720 – 1766) and Anna Maria Korteen. They had four children together:
In autumn of 1777, Harris travelled to Russia to be envoy-extraordinary to Russia, an office he held until September 1783. At St Petersburg he made his reputation, for he managed to get on with Catherine II, in spite of her predilections for France, and steered adroitly through the accumulated difficulties of the first Armed Neutrality. He was made a Knight of the Bath at the end of 1778; but in 1782 he returned home owing to ill-health, and was appointed by his friend, Charles James Fox, to be minister at The Hague, an appointment confirmed after some delay by William Pitt the Younger (1784).
...
Wikipedia