Background
Charles Williamson was born on July 12, 1757, at Balgray, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, the second of three sons of Alexander Williamson and Christian Robertson.
land owner military secret agent
Charles Williamson was born on July 12, 1757, at Balgray, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, the second of three sons of Alexander Williamson and Christian Robertson.
Commissioned as ensign in the 25th Regiment of Foot, March 8, 1775, he had become captain in 1781, when he resigned and as unattached officer started to join Cornwallis in America. He was captured on the high seas and taken prisoner to Boston. Shortly after his release he had returned to Scotland.
Early in 1784 he set out on a secret mission to Constantinople. This journey, apparently of a commercial nature, gave him some claim later to speak on Near East affairs.
In 1791 Williamson, as a land promoter in western New York, was appointed to hold in trust a tract of 1, 200, 000 acres, acquired from Robert Morris. His principals were three English speculators headed by Sir William Pulteney. His task was to open up the land to settlers, give titles, and promote local improvements; in order to carry it out he became a naturalized American citizen. As such he held various county offices and was four times (1796 - 1800) a member of the New York Assembly. To advertise his wilderness domain he issued pamphlets, promoted horse races, patronized a local theatre, and published a local newspaper. To further immigration he built a substantial hotel at Geneva, laid out turnpikes, built bridges, and provided post riders. These manifold activities, prompted both by restless energy and love of display, called for greater expenditures than his principals approved.
In consequence he withdrew from his agency in 1802, but not before he, Aaron Burr, Jr. and other members of the New York Assembly had secured the passage of a law (April 2, 1798) that permitted aliens for a limited period to give titles to lands within the state.
In 1794 he attracted national attention through a controversy with J. G. Simcoe, lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada. During ten years of colonizing activity he had done much to develop western New York and had acquired a knowledge of American affairs that was to prove useful to him as volunteer adviser to successive British cabinet officers. His services as trustee for the Pulteney estate were rewarded by substantial land grants and £20, 000 cash.
Williamson's first assignment after his return to England and to British allegiance in 1803, was to raise a special regiment for service in the West Indies or Spanish America. In this scheme he was only partially successful. He managed, however, to establish covert intimacy with William Armstrong, a later associate of Francisco Miranda, and to renew his friendship with Burr, Jr. He was empowered to present the latter's Mexican project to the British ministry - a trust that he performed through Henry Dundas, Lord Melville. The impeachment of that nobleman and the military situation in Europe thwarted their joint plan and likewise kept Williamson from joining Miranda.
On revisiting the United States in 1806 he became convinced that Great Britain must pay more attention to transatlantic affairs and advised changing ministries during the next two years to overthrow the "Frenchified" Jeffersonian régime. His numerous memoranda on that subject show a distinct Tory bias, especially when he discussed commercial topics, but he confidently expected to attract British support among eastern merchants and hypothetical western separatists. Despite occasional doubts, he still regarded Burr, Jr. as a dependable agent in carrying out this policy and was preparing to receive Burr, Jr. in England when events in Spain called him into service elsewhere.
In June 1808 Castlereagh selected him as a messenger to the Spanish West Indies. While pursuing his combined mission of trade and good will he contracted yellow fever in Havana and died on September 4, 1808, on his homeward voyage.
Charles Williamson was married to Abigail Newell, they had four children.