William Waddington

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Jules Dufaure
Succeeded byCharles de Freycinet
Personal details
Born11 December 1826
Saint-Rémy-sur-Avre
Died13 January 1894(1894-01-13) (aged 67)
Paris
Political partyNone
Spouses
Mathilde Lutteroth
​
​
(m. 1850; died 1852)​
​
(m. 1874)​
ChildrenHenri Waddington
Francis Richard Waddington
Parent(s)Thomas Waddington
Anne Chisholm
Relatives
Légion d'honneur

William Henry Waddington (11 December 1826 – 13 January 1894) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister in 1879, and as an Ambassador of France to London.

Early life and education

Waddington was born at the

cotton manufacturing business
in France, Établissements Waddington fils et Cie.

His father and mother Anne (née Chisholm) were both naturalised French citizens, and Waddington received his early education at the

MA degree, having won Second Prize in Classics as well as the prestigious Chancellor's Gold Medal.[1]

Waddington rowed in the victorious

Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race on the Thames in race of March 1849; he did not take part in the repeat race in December that year, which Oxford won.[2]

Career

Archaeological research

Returning to France, Waddington devoted himself for some years to

Asia Minor, Greece and Syria, and his experiences and discoveries are detailed in two Mémoires, the first produced by the French Institute and subsequently in his Mélanges de numismatique et de philologie ("Numismatic and Philological Miscellanies", 1861).[3]

Except for his essay on "The Protestant Church in France", published in 1856 in Cambridge Essays, his remaining works all concerned archaeology. They include his Fastes des Provinces Asiatiques de l'Empire Romain ("The Governor-Lists of the Asiatic Provinces of the Roman Empire", 1872), and editions of Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices and of Philippe Le Bas' Voyage archéologique (1868–1877).[3]

A

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, in 1865, Waddington was also elected a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.[3]

Chamber of Deputies

After contesting the

Minister of Public Instruction in Prime Minister Dufaure's short-lived second government of 18–24 May 1873.[4]

Senator for the Aisne

Vanity Fair
, 1878.

On 30 January 1876, he was elected

Senate. He continued to hold office under Jules Simon's premiership until being thrown out during the Seize mai
constitutional crisis (16 May 1877).

The triumph of the Republicans in the following

French newspapers as a great blow to his diplomatic reputation, until it became clear that his discussions with Lord Salisbury had resulted in Britain's agreement to allow France a free hand in Tunisia
. In 1885, he was re-elected for the senate.[5]

Prime Minister of France

Early in 1879 Waddington agreed to take over from Jules Dufaure as a caretaker Prime Minister with the agreement of Léon Gambetta. He kept peace between the radicals and the reactionaries till the delay of urgent reforms lost him the support of all parties. He stepped down on 27 December.[3]

He refused the immediate offer of ambassadorship to London, preferring to take up the role in 1880 of

parliamentary committee for the Scrutin de liste (of elections); he delivered an adverse judgment.[3]

Waddington's Government, 5 February – 28 December 1879

Ministerial changes

  • 4 March 1879 – Charles Lepère succeeded Marcère as Minister of the Interior and Worship; and Pierre Tirard succeeded Lepère as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce.

French Ambassador to London

In 1883 Waddington accepted the appointment and dignity of

Mary Alsop King, wrote some recollections of their diplomatic experiences – Letters of a Diplomat's Wife, 1883–1900 (New York, 1903), and Italian Letters of a Diplomat's Wife (1904), which were published after her husband's death.[3]

Personal life

Waddington's first wife, whom he married in 1850, was Mathilde (died 1852), daughter of the banker, Henri Lutteroth [fr]; they had a son Henri (1852–1939), a captain in the Chasseurs Alpins (French Army), who married Émilie de La Robertie.

In Paris in 1874, Waddington married his second wife,

Charles King, 9th President of Columbia College (by his second wife, the travel writer, Henrietta Liston Low).[6] They had one son, Francis Richard, who married (18 January 1903, Paris) Charlotte, daughter of Vice-Admiral Jean-Charles-Alexandre Sallandrouze de Lamornaix.[7] Charlotte was the granddaughter of Charles Sallandrouze de Lamornaix.[8]

Honours

See also

References

  1. ^ "Waddington, William Henry (WDNN845WH)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ^ Walter Bradford Woodgate Boating 1888
  3. ^ a b c d e f Chisholm 1911.
  4. ^ also see Gouvernement Jules Dufaure II (french)
  5. ^ a b www.senat.fr
  6. ^ "MADAME WADDINGTON, AUTHOR, DIES IN PARIS; Former Mary A. King Was the Widow of Ex-French Ambassador to England". The New York Times. 1 July 1923. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  7. ^ Griffith, William (18 December 1904). "AS MME. WADDINGTON SEES NEW YORK.; Brilliant American Woman Whose Husband Was Once Premier of France, Gives Her Impressions of Her Native City Which She Is Visiting After An Absence of 38 Years. Extraordinary Opportunities for Social and Intellectual Intercourse with Eminent Men and Women of the Old World Enjoyed by the Granddaughter of Rufus King – Her Reminiscences of Diplomatic Life and Defense of the Marriage of American Girls to Titled and Distinguished Foreigners – Regrets the Importance Given to Money in New York's Social Regime. MME. WADDINGTON'S IMPRESSION OF NEW YORK AFTER THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS' ABSENCE". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  8. ^ Times, Special Cable to the New York (18 January 1903). "DOINGS OF SOCIETY IN FRANCE; Brilliant Marriage of Mile. Sallandrouze de Lamornaix and M. Waddington – James H. Hyde Praised by French Papers". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 May 2017.

Sources

Further reading

  • Marshall, Philip R. "William Henry Waddington: The Making of a Diplomat." Historian 38.1 (1975): 79–97. online

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Henry Waddington.
Political offices
Preceded by
Minister of Public Instruction

1873 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Minister of Public Instruction

1876–1877 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Marquis de Banneville
Minister of Foreign Affairs

1877–1879 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Jules Dufaure
 Prime Minister of France
1879
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