John Methuen

John Methuen (1650–1706) was an English diplomat, judge and Member of Parliament. He held office simultaneously as Lord Chancellor of Ireland and English ambassador to Portugal. In the latter role, he and his son Paul negotiated the Methuen Treaty, the achievement for which John is chiefly remembered.

Early life and career He was born in Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire, the eldest son of Paul Methuen (died 1667), who was said to be the richest cloth merchant in England, and his wife Grace Ashe, daughter of John Ashe, whose lucrative cloth business was inherited by his son-in-law.

Envoy to Portugal

He was appointed the English envoy to Portugal in 1691,

The Irish-born writer John Dunton, visiting Dublin in 1698, left a valuable sketch of the Irish Courts. He described most of the Irish judges as being men of such high reputation that "no one complains of them"; but made a significant exception for Methuen, who he remarked seems to be out of vogue.

Return to Portugal He returned to Portugal as the English envoy and then as full Ambassador, holding this office with some intervals from 1702 until his death. In 1703 he received the title Ambassador Extraordinary, but not without some difficulty. Initially Lord Nottingham, the Secretary of State, refused it to him, causing him to complain to the royal confidante Sarah Churchill, who in turn complained to Queen Anne. The Queen, whose long friendship with Sarah was rapidly wearing thin, partly due to Sarah's notoriously bad temper, replied wearily that "I always took it for granted that Mr. Methuen was to have the title Ambassador Extraordinary".

Methuen Treaty

In 1702 Methuen persuaded the Portuguese Government to break their alliance with Louis XIV, and then began lengthy negotiations for an offensive and defensive alliance. Paul in his father's absence ultimately concluded the Treaty on 16 May 1703, a step of great significance in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Last years Methuen in later life increasingly suffered from gout and rheumatism; his health failed and he died at Lisbon, while still in office, on 2 July 1706. His much-publicized affair with Sarah Earle, the wife of a diplomatic colleague, damaged his professional standing. Sarah appears to have been living with him at the time of his death, and he remembered her in his last will and testament.

His speech on Fenwick's attainder shows him to have been a gifted lawyer, but as a judge, he was not highly regarded in Ireland, although his admirers maintained that he made several necessary reforms to the legal system. Inevitably his reputation suffered from the comparison to his predecessor, the brilliant and popular Sir Charles Porter.

Even among his Whig colleagues, opinion on his abilities varied: James Vernon thought highly of him, but Lord Somers clearly did not,