Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Finding Aid for the Charles Stuart de Rothesay Papers, ca. 1548-1911 (bulk 1768-1846)
648
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Charles Stuart de Rothesay Papers
Date (inclusive): ca. 1548-1911 (bulk 1768-1846)
Collection number: 648
Creator:
Stuart de Rothesay, Charles Stuart, Baron, 1779-1845
Extent:
25 boxes (12.5 lf.)
1 oversize box.
Abstract: Stuart de Rothesay, Charles Stuart, Baron (1779-1845) was a British diplomat and peer. The collection consists primarily
of correspondence related to his diplomatic career.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.
Processed by Aislinn Sotelo and Rajashree Mazumder in the Center For Primary Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Elizabeth
Sheehan, 2007.
This collection was originally minimally processed at an unknown date. In 2007, the collection was reprocessed with contents
being foldered and series levels added to enhance access to the material.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Purchase of Dr. Lawrence Clark Powell, 1957-1958.
[Identification of item], Charles Stuart de Rothesay Papers (Collection 648). Department of Special Collections, Charles E.
Young Research Library, UCLA.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
4233833
Stuart, Charles, Baron de Rothesay (1779-1845), diplomat, was born on 2 January 1779, the elder son of Sir Charles Stuart
(1753-1801) and his wife Anne Louisa (1757-1841). Stuart was educated at Eton College (1753-1801), Christ Church, Oxford (1797-8),
and the University of Glasgow (1798-9). After a brief stint in the bar, he entered the diplomatic service in 1801. Appointments
as secretary of legation at Vienna (1801-4) and secretary of embassy at Petersburg (1804-8) were followed by a liaison and
intelligence gathering assignment with the provincial juntas in French occupied Spain (1808-10). As minister in Lisbon (1810-14)
he made himself indispensable to Wellington, and he was made a member of the Portuguese regency council. During the 'hundred
days' (1815), he was the ambassador at the courts of both the King of Netherlands and Louis XVIII of France, who was in exile
in Ghent. His greatest diplomatic achievement was the treaty by which Brazil became independent of Portugal, negotiated on
a joint Anglo-Portuguese special mission in 1825. He was reappointed as ambassador to France in 1828, and was created Baron
Stuart de Rothesay of the Isle of Bute on 22 January that year. His subsequent assignments took him to Russia (under Sir Robert
Peel's government). But by this time he was a sick man and a stroke left him unable to conduct business. Although he tried
to conceal his condition, his resignation was forced in March 1844. He died at Highcliffe on 6 November 1845 and was buried
there. He was survived by his wife, Lady Elizabeth Margaret (1769-1867) and his two daughters, Charlotte (1817-1861), later
lady Canning and Louisa Anne (1818-1891), later Lady Waterford. With no male heir, his title became extinct.
The collection consists primarily of the correspondence of Charles Stuart de Rothesay, the majority of which documents his
diplomatic engagements. Many of the original letters and period copies are from notable historical figures such as Arthur
Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington; Lord Castlereagh; Lord Clancarty; Quentin Craufurd; le Comte Decazes; John Donzelot, the
Governor of Corfu; Duc de Richelieu; Charles R. Vaughn, as well as many other political figures, emissaries, and dignitaries.
Also included, to a lesser extent, are financial records, printed materials, and various miscellanies, which include Syrian
and Arabic materials, Greek and Egyptian materials which discuss the Trilingual Stone and the Rosetta Stone, a map, parchment
decrees.
Arranged in the following series:
- Correspondence
- Financial records
- Printed material
- Miscellaneous items
- Extraneous Miscellaneous Items.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Stuart de Rothesay, Charles Stuart, Baron--1779-1845--Archives.
Diplomats--Great Britain--Archival resources.
Charles Stuart de Rothesay Collection of Maps (Collection 931)
. Available at the Department of Special Collections.