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A 1908 biography of the British statesman George Macartney (1737-1806) based on previously unpublished letters and documents.
George Macartney (1737-1806) had a long and distinguished political and diplomatic career. He held the post of Secretary for Ireland, was successively governor of Grenada, Madras and the Cape Colony, and served as trade envoy to Russia and China. The son of an Irish landowner, Macartney rose in his profession through diligent diplomacy, perseverance, ambition and integrity; he gradually advanced in both the British and Irish peerage. This two-volume biography by Sir John Barrow, who had accompanied Macartney to China and the Cape, was first published in 1807, and draws heavily on official documents from Macartney's periods in office. Volume 1 contains a chronological account of Macartney's professional life, focusing particularly on the challenges he faced while Governor of Madras in the 1780s, including military threats, wrangling over fiscal policies, the extension of Fort St George, and plans for a Madras police force.
Biographical sketches of different periods of the life of George, Earl Macartney of Lisanoure (near Loughguile) in County Antrim, Ireland. He began his public career as the British Envoy Extraordinary to the court of Catherine the Great of Russia, served successively in the Caribbean, India, China (as Britain's first Ambassador), Verona, and the Cape of Good Hope, and was officially active in Irish affairs. Specialists deal with the major episodes of Macartney's public career (i.e., analysis of the Chinese embassy period requires expertise in Chinese as well as British records), and " ... the remaining chapters present a comprehensive account of his private affairs, including his estate and financial concerns." (flyleaf of paper cover). Macartney was granted knighthood in 1764, an Earldom in the Irish peerage in 1794, and a Barony in the British peerage in 1796.
This catalogue includes such famous figures as David Garrick and Dr Samuel Johnson, Sarah Siddons and Emma Hamilton, and the work of such artists as Gainsborough, Reynolds and Romney. It has been compiled by one of the leading authorities on 18th-century English portraiture, John Ingamells.