Benjamin Keene
Sir Benjamin Keene British Ambassador to Spain | |
---|---|
In office 1729–1739 | |
Preceded by | Anglo-Spanish War |
Succeeded by | War of Jenkins' Ear |
Personal details | |
Born | ca 1697 |
Nationality | English |
Political party | Whigs |
Parent(s) | Charles Keene (1674–?) Susan Rolfe (? – 1753) |
Alma mater | Pembroke College, Cambridge Leiden University |
Occupation | Diplomat |
Committees | Board of Trade 1741–1744 Paymaster of Pensions 1745–1746 |
Sir Benjamin Keene (1697–1757) was a British diplomat, who was British Ambassador to Spain from 1729 to 1739, then again from 1748 until his death in Madrid in December 1757. He has been described as "by far the most prominent British agent in Anglo-Spanish relations of the 18th century".[2]
First appointed
On returning to England, he was elected Member of Parliament from 1740 to 1741 for Maldon, then for West Looe until 1747. He was appointed to the Board of Trade in 1741 and made Paymaster of Pensions in 1745; he found political life less interesting than diplomacy and in 1745 transferred to Lisbon as Ambassador to Portugal.
Following the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, he returned to Madrid where his influence kept Spain neutral when the Seven Years' War began in 1756. His importance was such that he was kept in post until his death in December 1757, despite several requests he be allowed to retire due to ill-health. Although his successor lacked the same influence, Spain did not join the war against Britain until 1762, a major factor in British victory.
Biography
Benjamin Keene was born around 1697 in King's Lynn, Norfolk, eldest son of Charles Keene (1675–?) and Susan Rolfe (?–1753). His younger brother Edmund (1714–1781) was Bishop of Ely and Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge.[3]
Both his father and uncle Benjamin served as Mayor of King's Lynn, as did his grandfather Edmund Rolfe (1640–1726).
Keene was unmarried and left his estate to his brother Edmund; his nephew
Career
1718 to 1746
Keene graduated from Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1718 and completed his legal studies at the Dutch university of Leiden. Family connections brought him to the notice of Secretary of State and Norfolk magnate, Viscount Townshend (1674–1738), who sent him to Madrid in 1723, first as an officer of the South Sea Company, then Consul from 1724.[6]
The South Sea Company was established to hold commercial rights awarded to Britain in the 1713
The asiento itself was marginally profitable and has been described as a 'commercial illusion'; between 1717 and 1733, only eight ships were sent from Britain to the Americas.
The Spanish resented being forced to open their colonial markets, partly due to the prevailing economic theory of mercantilism, which viewed trade as a finite resource. This meant an increase in Britain's share was at the expense of Spain's and wars were often fought over commercial issues.[12] Utrecht had also confirmed British possession of the Spanish ports of Gibraltar and Mahón; their desire to regain them was a factor in the 1718 to 1720 War of the Quadruple Alliance, as well Spanish support for the Jacobite rising of 1719. This made the post of British Consul highly important, held by someone of skill and intelligence.
Keene's first major role was to negotiate the
With the outbreak of the
1746 to 1757
In July 1746, French-born
Keene's personal correspondence shows he did not enjoy Parliamentary life, and he was happy to be appointed Ambassador to Portugal in 1745. Since Britain and Spain were still at war, his role in Lisbon was to open negotiations with the new Spanish regime, although his talks with the Marqués de Tabuérniga made little progress, largely because Britain refused to consider the return of Gibraltar.[15]
After the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended the war, Keene resumed his position in Madrid; he quickly developed a good relationship with Ferdinand and his ministers, who shared Newcastle's aim of moving Spain away from France and closer to Britain. In October 1750, Keene helped negotiate the Treaty of Madrid, which resolved commercial issues between the two countries.[16]
He also brokered the 1752
Although Newcastle failed to prevent the 1756 Diplomatic Revolution, in which Austria allied with France, Spain initially stayed out of the Seven Years' War. Keene was now in poor health, but his request to be relieved was rejected since he was considered too valuable to British interests. He died in Madrid in 1757, and was replaced by George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol, who did not have the same influence; Charles III of Spain succeeded Ferdinand in 1759, and in 1762 he entered the war on the side of France.[17]
References
- ^ "M6012; Sir Benjamin Keene". Maritime Memorials. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- ^ Lodge 1932, p. 5.
- ^ a b c Mercer 2004.
- ^ Ewing 1837, pp. 101–102.
- ^ Namier & Brooke 1964, pp. Online.
- ^ Sedgwick 1970, pp. online.
- ^ Browning 1993, p. 21.
- ^ Ibañez 2008, p. 16.
- ^ Anderson 1976, p. 293.
- ^ Richmond 1920, p. 2.
- ^ Mclachlan 1940, p. 6.
- ^ Rothbard.
- ^ a b Lodge 1932, p. 6.
- ^ Scott 2015, p. 62.
- ^ Lodge 1932, pp. 7=8.
- ^ Simms 2008, p. 381.
- ^ a b Schumann.
Sources
- Anderson, MS (1976). Europe in the Eighteenth Century, 1713–1783 : (A General History of Europe). Longman. ISBN 978-0582486720.
- Browning, Reed (1993). The War of the Austrian Succession. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0312094836.
- Ewing, William Creasey (1837). Norfolk lists, from the Reformation to the present time. Matchett, Stevenson, Matchett.
- Ibañez, Ignacio Rivas (2008). Mobilizing Resources for War: The Intelligence Systems during the War of Jenkins' Ear (PDF) (PHD). University College London.
- Lodge, Richard (1932). "Presidential Address: Sir Benjamin Keene, K.B.: A Study in Anglo-Spanish Relations in the Earlier Part of the Eighteenth Century". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 15: 1–43. JSTOR 3678642.
- Mclachlan, Jean O (1940). Trade and Peace with Old Spain (2015 ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107585614.
- Mercer, M (2004). "Keene, Sir Benjamin". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/15245. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Namier, Lewis; Brooke, J, eds. (1964). KEENE, Benjamin (1753–1837), of Westoe Lodge, Cambs in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754–1790 (Online ed.). Boydell & Brewer.
- Richard Lodge, The Private Correspondence of Sir Benjamin Keene. In: The English Historical Review, Vol. 49, No. 194 (Apr. 1934), pp. 344–45
- ISBN 9781107611641.
- Rodger, N. A. M., The Insatiable Earl: A Life of John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich, 1718–1792. Harper Collins, 1993
- Rothbard, Murray. "Mercantilism as the Economic Side of Absolutism". Mises.org. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
- Schumann, Matt. "British Foreign Policy During the Seven Years' War (1749-63)". Gale.com. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- Sedgwick, R, ed. (1970). KEENE, Benjamin (c.1697–1757) in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715–1754 (Online ed.). Boydell & Brewer.
- Scott, Hamish (2015). The Birth of a Great Power System, 1740-1815. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-13423-2.
- Simms, Brendan (2008). Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire. Penguin Books.
External links
- JSTOR The Private Correspondence of Sir Benjamin Keene
- Mercer, M. J. "Keene, Sir Benjamin". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/15245. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Sir Benjamin Keene's papers, GB/NNAF/P150670, National Archives
- Portrait of Sir Benjamin Keene
- Will of His Excellency, Sir Benjamin Keene, His Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Catholic King of Madrid [1]
- "M6012; Sir Benjamin Keene". Maritime Memorials. Retrieved 30 July 2019.