Sir Robert Gunning, 1st Baronet
Sir Robert Gunning, 1st Baronet
Family
The Gunnings were an Irish family. His country seat was at Horton in Northamptonshire, England, which he purchased 1782; he was the eldest son of Robert Gunning - and his mother was Catherine, the daughter of John Edwards. The family was descended from Richard Gunning, who was an uncle of Peter Gunning, the Bishop of Ely who had settled in Ireland in the time of James I. The Gunning family stayed at Horton Hall until 1888 when it was sold to Pickering Phipps, the Northampton brewer. Later still, it was sold to George Winterbottom.
Marriages
- 27 March 1752, Elizabeth, daughter of John Harrison of Grantham, by whom he had no children
- 1757, Anne, daughter of Robert Sutton of Scofton, Nottinghamshire, by whom he had a son, George William, who succeeded to the title; a daughter Charlotte Margaret, maid of honour to Queen Charlotte, who married, on 6 January 1790, the Hon. Stephen Digby; and also another daughter, Barbara Evelyn Isabella, who married in 1795 Major-General Ross.
The diplomatic service
Gunning entered the diplomatic service, and on 23 November 1765 was appointed minister resident at the court of Denmark, where he arrived in April of the following year. His instructions were to assist the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, Walter Titley, and to keep the British government well informed of passing events. He seems to have performed his duties with regularity, tact, and ability, and on the death of Titley (27 February 1768) he succeeded to the post of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary.
On 13 April 1771 he was appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the court of Prussia, but did not leave Copenhagen until the end of June, reaching Berlin in the following month. On 13 Dec. he was transferred with the same rank to the court of Russia, where he arrived early in the following June, and was received in the most distinguished manner by the empress. His instructions, dated 28 May 1772, directed him to offer the services of the British government as mediator between Russia and the Porte, with a view to effecting a treaty of peace, and to support the policy of the empress in Poland, but to attempt to secure toleration for the Greek church and other dissident religious bodies.
Gunning was also instructed at a later date to solicit the intervention of the empress on behalf of the city of
The way in which Gunning discharged his duties were much appreciated by the King
In the summer of 1775 he was instructed to sound out the Russian foreign minister,
A pretext for rupturing the negotiation was found in the demand of the British Government that the principal officers of the contingent should take the oath of allegiance to the British crown. Gunning's conduct in the affair was much praised by Lord Suffolk. In the following November he sought and obtained his recall on account of ill-health.
He died at his seat at Horton, near Northampton, on 22 September 1816.
References
- ^ a b "No. 11376". The London Gazette. 3 August 1773. p. 1.
- ^ "No. 11922". The London Gazette. 27 October 1778. p. 1.
External links
- Dictionary of National Biography - the article was published in 1890