The Yeames family and the British General Consulate at the Black Sea ports, 1819-1821

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyze a fragment of the history of British diplomacy on duty in the territory of the Russian Empire between 1819 and 1821. Our attention will be focused on the work of the British Consul General, James Yeames, settled in Odessa, the residence of the Consulate General of the Black Sea Port, who at the beginning of 1819 would take over the position from his father, Henry Savage Yeames. Starting from the existing historical studies on this subject, focused mainly on the period of 1803-1819, we intend to continue both the analysis of the activity of the British consulate and of the consul Yeames using different historiographical sources, such as memoirs, archival documents and special studies dedicated to this subject. The questions raised in this text on issues of British diplomacy, such as what salary the consul in Odessa had, how the resources of the consulate were managed, what tasks James Yeames had to accomplish, what the greatest challenges in the job description were, will be answered as a result of our analysis.