Charles Arbuthnot

Charles Arbuthnot (14 March 1767 – 18 August 1850) was a British diplomat and Tory politician. He was Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire between 1804 and 1807 and held a number of political offices. He was a good friend of the Duke of Wellington. His second wife, Harriet, became a hostess at Wellington's society dinners, and wrote an important diary cataloging contemporary political intrigues. Background Arbuthnot was son of John Arbuthnot, FRS of Rockfleet, and his wife Anne Stone, daughter of the banker Robert Stone; he was brother of bishop Alexander Arbuthnot, General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot and General Sir Robert Arbuthnot. He was born in Rockfleet, County Mayo, Ireland, but much of his upbringing was with Andrew Stone, his mother's relation. He was educated at Westminster School, and matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford in 1784, graduating B.A. in 1788. He then went on a Grand Tour. Political and diplomatic career to 1804 Arbuthnot joined the Foreign Office in 1793, where he impressed William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville. He sat as Member of Parliament for East Looe between 1795 and 1796, after William Wellesley Pole stepped down because he could not support the war policies of William Pitt the younger. Arbuthnot also held a number of diplomatic postings, notably as consul general in Portugal between 1800 and 1801, as Minister to Sweden. He served under Henry Addington as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between November 1803 and June 1804. In 1804 he was sworn of the Privy Council.