Robert Southwell (diplomat)

Sir Robert Southwell PRS (31 December 1635 – 11 September 1702) was a diplomat. He was Secretary of State for Ireland and President of the Royal Society from 1690.

Robert Southwell was born near Kinsale in County Cork on 31 December 1635 to Robert Southwell (1608-1677) and his wife Helena, daughter of Major Robert Gore, of Shereton, Wiltshire. The family had settled in Ireland a couple of generations earlier, and his father had become a customs official at Kinsale in 1631. Like other Munster planters, he was threatened by the Irish Rebellion of 1641. During the Civil War, he followed the Royalist cause, placing him in a weak position. This may be why his son was sent to Christchurch, Hampshire in 1650, before graduating to Queen's College, Oxford, from which he graduated BA in 1655. Between 1659 and 1661, he travelled in Europe meeting some of the leading intellectuals of his time. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1662.

On his return to Ireland, his father wanted him to find employment that would keep him in Ireland. He obtained the post of secretary to the Commission of Prizes in 1664. Soon after, he married Elizabeth Dering (1649–1682), daughter of Sir Edward Dering, 2nd Baronet, by whom his son Edward Southwell was born. Her marriage portion of £1500 enabled him to buy one of the four clerkships of the Privy Council.

His linguistic abilities suited him for diplomatic service. He was appointed in November 1665 as an emissary to Portugal, being knighted before he left. There he assisted in securing the peace between Spain and Portugal, which was achieved in February 1668. He returned to England, but was sent back to Portugal, staying for over another year.

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