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Joseph Ewart
FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...
(30 April 1759 – 27 January 1792) was a Scottish diplomat, mainly based in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
in
Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
(now
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
) .


Early life

Ewart was born on 30 April 1759, the eldest son of Mary (née Corrie) and Rev. John Ewart, the minister of
Troqueer Troqueer is a former village and a parish in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway on the west side of the River Nith. The eastern-side was merged with Dumfries to the east in 1929, and today eastern Troqueer is a sub ...
in
Kirkcudbrightshire Kirkcudbrightshire ( ) or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the Counties of Scotland, historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an ...
. He was educated at
Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...
Parish School then went to the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
, and then acted as travelling tutor to Macdonald of Clan Ronald.


Adult life

While abroad, Ewart made the acquaintance of Sir John Stepney, British minister at Dresden, and after that diplomat was transferred to Berlin, Ewart became his private secretary and then secretary of legation. After acting as chargé d'affaires from 1787 to 1788, he was appointed
envoy extraordinary An envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, usually known as a minister, was a diplomatic head of mission who was ranked below ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy was known as a legation rather than an embassy. Under the ...
and
minister plenipotentiary An envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, usually known as a minister, was a diplomatic head of mission who was ranked below ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy was known as a legation rather than an embassy. Under the ...
to the
King of Prussia The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...
on 5 August 1788.


Service in Prussia

Pitt's design, assisted by Lord Malmesbury, was to induce Frederick William of Prussia to intervene in the affairs of Holland; to put down the revolutionary party there; and to re-establish the Prince of Orange as a stadt-holder. This design was carried out, and Ewart obtained much credit for his share in the transactions. Of his subsequent conduct at the court of Berlin there are contradictory reports, for the French revolution commenced in 1789, and partisans and opponents of the English foreign policy of that period represent the minister's behaviour in different lights. Ewart was accused of adopting too peremptory an attitude towards the King of Prussia and his ministers, thus alienating them from England. He succeeded in concluding the marriage treaty between the Duke of York and the eldest daughter of the King of Prussia, and received warm acknowledgments from the king. His health breaking down, he resigned on a pension of 1,000l. a year and a promise of the Order of the Bath. He left Berlin on 3 November 1791. He died at his brother's house in Bladud's Buildings, Bath, on 27 January 1792, and was buried in Bath Abbey, where a tablet is erected to his memory. A statement that he died out of his mind, and another (by Wraxell) that his death was due to foul play of the Empress Catherine, are entirely disproved by facts preserved in the family papers.


Personal life

In 1785 he married the Countess Wartensleben, with whom he had two daughters, and a one son (later Lieutenant General) John Frederick Ewart. John Frederick married Lavinia Brisbane, daughter of
Charles Brisbane Rear admiral (Royal Navy), Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Brisbane, Order of the Bath, KCB (1770 – December 1829) was a Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator who served as the List of colonial governors and administrators of Saint Vincen ...
and their children included the military leaders
John Alexander Ewart General Sir John Alexander Ewart Order of the Bath, GCB (1 June 1821 – 18 June 1904) was a 19th-century British military leader who commanded the Gordon Highlanders and several other important British regiments. A hero of the Siege of Lucknow h ...
and
Charles Brisbane Ewart Lieutenant General Charles Brisbane Ewart (15 May 1827 – 8 August 1903) was a British Army officer who became Lieutenant Governor of Jersey. Life He was the son of Lt General John Frederick Ewart and his wife, Lavinia Brisbane, daughter of th ...
. In 1790 he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...
. His proposers were John Robison,
John Playfair John Playfair FRSE, FRS (10 March 1748 – 20 July 1819) was a Church of Scotland minister, remembered as a scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is best known for his book ''Illu ...
and Robert Kerr. He died at Bladud's Buildings in Bath and is buried in
Bath Abbey The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is a parish church of the Church of England and former Benedictines, Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, Bath, Somerset, England. Founded in the 7th century, i ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ewart, Joseph Scottish diplomats Scottish educators Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 18th-century Scottish people 1759 births 1792 deaths Ambassadors of Great Britain Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Prussia