Harris, James ___ 1746-1820 ___ 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.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1767-1820 ___ political religious society Spain Germany France

WEB TEXT LINKS
googlebooks
etext

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Hampshire Records Office

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Diaries and Correspondence of the 1st Earl of Malmesbury
 

May 2006, July 2008, April 2013
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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.