Richard Meade, 3rd Earl of Clanwilliam

Diplomatic and political career Lord Clanwilliam joined the Diplomatic Service. He attended Lord Castlereagh's suite at the Congress of Vienna in 1814 and was his private secretary from January 1817 to July 1819 in the latter's capacity as Foreign Secretary.

He was formally appointed Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in 1822 after having acted in this role for a year and a half.

He was conferred a Doctor of Civil Law from Oxford University in 1834. He died at 32 Belgrave Square in London on 7 October 1879. His second youngest son Sidney Meade (1839-1917) was Perpetual Curate of Christ Church in Bradford on Avon from 1882, Canon of Salisbury Cathedral and Justice of the Peace for Wiltshire.

Lawrence Painting

His sister, Lady Selina Meade (later Countess of Clam-Martinic) was also famously painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence. In 1823, Lawrence wrote to Clanwilliam, begging his friend to ‘let me have a fine line Engraving taken of Lady Selina’s Portrait..popular wherever she has appeared..I shall have it engraved by the most skilful artist, who will be but too happy to begin it’. Clanwilliam initially didn't like the idea about his sister being ‘in the window of the printshop’. In a letter to Lawrence in 1824 by Lord Leveson-Gower, Selina’s previous suitor, mentioned Clanwilliam’s reluctance to part with the picture for this purpose, and remarks of him needed to be ‘tranquilized’ over the prospect of his sister appearing on the print market. The print was published in 1828, entitled ‘Selina’ and showing the sitter without the spire of the Stefansdom in the distance, when it appeared as the frontispiece of the first edition of the journal, The Keepsake.