THIS IS THE DIARY JUNCTION - DATA AND LINKS FOR OVER 500 HISTORICAL AND LITERARY DIARISTS
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT ALSO TO LOOK AT KIP FENN, A MAJOR NOVEL ABOUT THE 21st CENTURY
- freely available on this site
Harris, James ___ 1745-1829 ___ British
___ diplomat
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Born in Salisbury, Harris was educated
at Winchester, Oxford and Leiden. In 1768 he was appointed secretary to
the British embassy in Madrid, but also acted as chargé d'affaires
between the leaving of Sir James Grey and the arrival of George Pitt (later
Lord Rivers). In this period, his actions were instrumental in thwarting
Spain's intention to invade the Falkland Islands. In 1777, he was transferred
to the court of Russia in St Petersburg and proved an able diplomat, especially
with regard to Catherine and her links with France. He was made a knight
of the Bath in 1778, but in 1782 ill health forced his return. Thereafter,
nevertheless, he served as minister to the Hague, where he helped further
Prime Minister Pitt's policy of maintaining England's influence on the Continent.
This led to the king of Prussia overthrowing the republican party in the
Netherlands, which was inclined to France, and re-establishing the prince
of Orange. Harris was created Baron Malmesbury in 1788. He returned to England,
but in 1793 was sent by Pitt to try to keep Prussia true to a coalition
against France - but he failed. A year later, he was also entrusted with
trying to solicit the hand of Caroline for the Prince of Wales. In 1800,
he was created Earl of Malmesbury, and Viscount Fitzharris. Thereafter,
although retired, he continued to serve as an unofficial adviser to politicians
of the day, particularly Canning and Palmerston.
One biography link
DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1767-1820 ___ political religious
society Spain Germany France
WEB TEXT LINKS
several
quotes - search site with Google
ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Hampshire
Record Office
SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Diaries and Correspondence of the 1st Earl of Malmesbury
May 06
THIS IS THE DIARY JUNCTION - DATA AND LINKS FOR OVER 500 HISTORICAL AND LITERARY DIARISTS
Please
email if you have any corrections, additions or comments. |
IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS:
1) The first line of basic information
may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different
names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or
uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown,
or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British'
a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was
compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts
were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if
they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates
and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with
caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are
only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies.
4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges,
and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising.
I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some
variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited
myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their
original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the
titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries. |