Sir Robert Southwell PRS (31 December 1635 – 11 September 1702) was a diplomat. He was Secretary of State for Ireland and

President of the Royal Society The president of the Royal Society (PRS) is the elected Head of the Royal Society of London who presides over meetings of the society's council. After informal meetings at Gresham College, the Royal Society was officially founded on 28 November ...

from 1690.

Background and education

Robert Southwell was born near

Kinsale Kinsale ( ; ) is a historic port and fishing town in County Cork, Ireland. Located approximately south of Cork City on the southeast coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon, and has a population of 5,281 ( ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

on 31 December 1635 to his namesake Robert Southwell (1608-1677) and Helena Gore, daughter of Major Robert Gore, of Sherston,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. The family had settled in Ireland a couple of generations earlier, and his father had become a customs official at

in 1631. Like other

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following t ...

planters, he was threatened by the

Irish Rebellion of 1641 The Irish Rebellion of 1641 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1641) was an uprising by Irish Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland, who wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to partially or fully reverse the plantation ...

. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policie ...

, he followed the Royalist cause, placing him in a weak position. This may be why his son was sent to

Christchurch, Hampshire Christchurch () is a town and civil parish in Dorset on the south coast of England. The town had a population of 31,372 in 2021. For the borough the population was 48,368. It adjoins Bournemouth to the west, with the New Forest to the east. Part ...

in 1650, before graduating to

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

, from which he graduated BA in 1655. Between 1659 and 1661, he travelled in Europe meeting some of the leading intellectuals of his time. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1662.

Public office

On his return to Ireland, his father wanted him to find employment that would keep him in Ireland. He obtained the post of secretary to the Commission of Prizes in 1664. Soon after, he married Elizabeth Dering (1649–1682), daughter of Sir Edward Dering, 2nd Baronet, by whom his son Edward Southwell was born. Her marriage portion of £1500 enabled him to buy one of the four clerkships of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. His linguistic abilities suited him for diplomatic service. He was appointed in November 1665 as an emissary to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a Sovereign state, country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southern Europe, Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes ...

, being knighted before he left. There he assisted in securing the peace between Spain and Portugal, which was achieved in February 1668. He returned to England, but was sent back to Portugal, staying for over another year. In October 1671, he was dispatched to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

as ambassador. On his return, he was elected to the English Parliament for Penryn in 1673. He also took up again the post of secretary to the Commission of Prizes, which he had resigned in 1667 and became his father's deputy as Vice-Admiral of Munster. He also became a Commissioner of Excise in 1671. Southwell was embarrassed by the

Popish Plot The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the Kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate ...

, being forced to testify at the trial of Edward Colman that

Titus Oates Titus Oates (15 September 1649 – 12/13 July 1705) was an English priest who fabricated the "Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles II. Early life Titus Oates was born at Oakham in Rutland. His father Samuel (1610� ...

, whom he detested, was telling the truth about the evidence he had given at a crucial Council meeting, and sold his clerkship of the Privy Council in 1679. However, he remained in favour, being appointed in spring 1680 as an envoy to the

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, with the object of constructing an alliance against France. This took him to the courts of the Prince of Orange and the Duke of Brunswick–Lüneburg, but the project was no longer what Charles II wanted. In 1685, he was elected to Parliament again, this time for

Lostwithiel Lostwithiel (; kw, Lostwydhyel) is a civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739, increasing to 2,899 at the 2011 ce ...

. However, he was out of office in this period, having lost his Excise place in 1681.

After the Glorious Revolution

After the accession of

William William is a male Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sex ...

and

Mary II of England Mary II (30 April 166228 December 1694) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, co-reigning with her husband, William III & II, from 1689 until her death in 1694. Mary was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York, and his first wife ...

, Southwell accompanied William to Ireland, as his principal secretary, after the deposed James II had landed at Kinsale in his attempt to recover his kingdom. He was in Ireland from June to October 1690. In December he was elected as

, a post to which he was re-elected annually until 1695. He also held office as a Customs Commissioner from 1689 until 1697. He died at his estate King's Weston House near Bristol, on 11 September 1702 and was buried nearby in

Henbury Henbury is a suburb of Bristol, England, approximately north west of the city centre. It was formerly a village in Gloucestershire and is now bordered by Westbury-on-Trym to the south; Brentry to the east and the Blaise Castle Estate, Blaise ...

church in Gloucestershire. Though he remained living in England Southwell remembered his Irish roots by founding

almshouses An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...

in Kinsale.

Family

Southwell married, on 26 January 1664, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Edward Dering of Surrenden-Dering in Kent. Their children were: Rupert, born on 21 May 1670, and died on 8 May 1678; Edward Southwell, his heir; and four daughters—Helena, Elizabeth, Mary, and Catherine.

References

* Toby Barnard, 'Southwell, Sir Robert (1635–1702)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200

accessed 10 April 2009.

External links

* * * * hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.south, Southwell Papers. Osborn Collection. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Southwell, Robert 1635 births 1702 deaths People from Kinsale Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Ambassadors of England to the Holy Roman Empire Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Cornwall Original Fellows of the Royal Society Presidents of the Royal Society Clerks of the Privy Council Members of the Privy Council of Ireland 17th-century English diplomats English MPs 1661–1679 English MPs 1679 English MPs 1685–1687 Ambassadors of England People from Gloucestershire (before 1904)