{{Short description|British diplomat (1694–1758)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Sir Everard Fawkener''' (1694–1758) was an English merchant and diplomat, chiefly remembered for his friendship with Voltaire. His daughter was the celebrated political hostess Harriet Bouverie.
==Career== Fawkener was born into a family of silk merchants. His father, William (1642–1716) was a leading member of the Levant Company. Everard was sent out to Aleppo in 1716 and remained there until 1725. He then worked in the family firm of Snelling and Fawkener, leading the Levant merchants of their day until 1735.<ref name ="ODNB">Haydn Mason, ‘Fawkener, Sir Everard (1694–1758)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9228], accessed 8 Aug 2008</ref>
He met the philosopher Voltaire in Paris on his way home from Aleppo in 1725. Voltaire stayed in Fawkener's house in Wandsworth during his lengthy visit to England in 1726. The two men maintained a warm and affectionate correspondence for many years. Voltaire dedicated his tragedy ''Zaïre'' to Fawkener in 1733,.<ref name ="ODNB"/> In November 1748 Voltaire wrote to Fawkener "Now you are a husband and a father and I hope a happy one".<ref>H. Mason, 'Voltaire and Sir Everard Fawkener', ''British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies'' 23(1), 2000, 1-12.</ref>
Fawkener was knighted in 1735. He was appointed as ambassador to the Ottoman Empire on 19 August 1735. He arrived in Constantinople on the 19th of December. He did not like it much there and got leave to return home on 8 November 1742. His credentials were finally recalled on 4 September 1746.
Upon his return, he became secretary to the Duke of Cumberland, a post which he held for the rest of his life. He was an eyewitness to the Battle of Fontenoy. He accompanied the Duke on his campaign in the Scottish Highlands to suppress the Jacobite rising of 1745.<ref name ="ODNB"/> In 1745 he became Postmaster General. In this period he was a financial backer in the foundation of the Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory.
==Family == [[File:Harriet Churchill, Lady Fawkener, by Jean-Etienne Liotard.jpg|thumb|Harriet Churchill, Lady Fawkener (Jean-Étienne Liotard)]] Fawkener did not marry until 1747, when aged 53. His wife was Harriet, the natural daughter of Lieutenant General Charles Churchill. A portrait of her by Constantinople-based artist Jean-Étienne Liotard hangs in Compton Verney House. They had a daughter, also named Harriet, who married Edward Bouverie and became the noted society hostess Mrs. Bouverie, and two sons,<ref name ="ODNB"/> William Augustus Fawkener<ref>[http://www.jamesboswell.info/Biographies/William_Fawkener/ William Augustus Fawkener (c.1750-1811)]</ref> and Everard Fawkener of the 11th dragoons.
Fawkener lived at Westhorpe House near Little Marlow.<ref name=britishhistory>{{cite web|title=Parishes: Little Marlow, A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 3 (1925), pp. 77-84|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42532 |accessdate=2 March 2014}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *Perry, Norma. ''Sir Everard Fawkener, Friend and Correspondent of Voltaire''
{{S-start}} {{s-dip}} {{s-bef|before=The Earl of Kinnoull}} {{s-ttl|title=Ambassador to the Sublime Porte|years=1737–1744}} {{s-aft|after=Sir James Porter}} {{s-gov}} {{s-bef|before=Sir John Eyles <br />The Earl of Leicester}} {{s-ttl|title=Postmaster General|years= 1745-58| with=The Earl of Leicester }} {{s-aft|after= The Lord Trevor<br /> The Earl of Bessborough }} {{S-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fawkener, Everard}} Category:1694 births Category:1758 deaths Category:18th-century English merchants Category:Ambassadors of the Kingdom of Great Britain to the Ottoman Empire Category:Postmasters general of the United Kingdom Category:Knights Bachelor