Robert Adair (politician)

For other people named Robert Adair, see Robert Adair (disambiguation).

The Right Honourable Sir Robert Adair GCB
British Ambassador to Belgium
In office 1831–1835
Monarch	William IV
Preceded by	John Ponsonby
Succeeded by	Stratford Canning
British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
In office 1808–1809
Preceded by	Sir Arthur Paget
Succeeded by	Henry Bulwer
British Ambassador to Austria
In office 1806–1807
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	William Cavendish-Bentinck
Preceded by	Sir Arthur Paget
Succeeded by	George Herbert
Member of Parliament for Camelford
In office 1802–1812
Preceded by	William Joseph Denison
Succeeded by	John Angerstein
Personal details
Born	(1763-05-24)24 May 1763
Died	3 October 1855(1855-10-03) (aged 92)
Political party	Whig
Spouse	Angélique Gabrielle ​ (m. 1805)​
Alma mater	Westminster School University of Göttingen

Sir Robert Adair GCB (24 May 1763 – 3 October 1855) was a distinguished British diplomat, and frequently employed on the most important diplomatic missions.

He was the son of Robert Adair, sergeant-surgeon to George III, and Lady Caroline Keppel, daughter of Willem Anne van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle. He was educated at Westminster School and the University of Göttingen, and then studied law at Lincoln's Inn, but hardly practised as a barrister.

He hoped to gain office as Under-secretary of State to Charles James Fox, but he was in opposition. Following the French Revolution, he travelled in Europe, visiting Berlin, Vienna, and St Petersburg to study the effects of the revolution and equip himself for a diplomatic career.

He became Whig Member of Parliament (MP) for Appleby (1799–1802) and Camelford (1802–12).

In 1805, he made a disastrous marriage to Angélique Gabrielle, daughter of the marquis de l'Escuyer d'Hazincourt (known as ‘Talleyrand's spy’), but this kept him out of office when Fox returned to government. Instead Fox sent him to Vienna. In June 1808, George Canning transferred him to Constantinople. He was created a KCB in that year for his services there. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1828.

He was employed in Belgium from 1831 to 1835, where he succeeded in preventing a war between Belgium and The Netherlands. This exploit won for him the rank of GCB and a pension of £2000 per year from 1831, and also the grand'cross of the Belgian order of Leopold in 1835. He then visited Prussia. In the 1840s, he published memoirs of his diplomatic activities in the 1800s.

References

• W. P. Courtney, 'Adair, Sir Robert (1763–1855)', rev. H. C. G. Matthew, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, January 2008)

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Robert Adair
• Portraits of Robert Adair at the National Portrait Gallery, London