The diplomatic papers of Charles Stuart, 1st baron Stuart de Rothesay, relating to his mission to Portugal 1810-1813, comprise some 680 letters, amounting to about 1,000 pages.
Stuart had been in the diplomatic service since 1801 (the Bodleian holds two journals from this period). Having undertaken a liaison and intelligence-gathering mission in French-occupied Spain from 1808-1810, he was appointed minister at Lisbon in 1810. In the absence of the Portuguese court which had fled to Brazil, Stuart was made a member of the ruling Regency Council, making him, along with Wellington with whom he worked closely, a highly important figure in military and political circles.
The correspondence reflects his position, and comprises military and administrative papers, papers relating to intelligence, diplomatic correspondence and also some personal correspondence. These letters cover a range of subjects including reports of military actions, intelligence reports, papers relating to the maintenance of the Portuguese army, incidents of army discipline, dealing with French prisoners, strains in Anglo-Portuguese relations and much else besides. Highlights include a set of 17 letters from Lord Fitzroy Somerset, military secretary to Wellington.
The papers appear to be part of a much larger archive housed at Highcliffe Castle until 1935, when the then owner, the Earl of Abingdon, put the papers up for sale at Sotheby's. The Foreign Office stopped the sale and removed 40 volumes from the archive which are now in the National Archives. The remainder was sold in lots, and the present collection seems to have been the lot described as ‘Portugal, 1810-1814' sold on 12 November 1935. An added interest from the Bodleian’s point of view is that among the papers of the veteran and historian of the Peninsular War Sir William Napier, housed in the Library, are two volumes of notes taken from Charles Stuart’s papers of 1810-1813 (MSS. Eng. misc. b. 97, c. 473).
