Background
Richard Worsam Meade was born on June 23, 1778 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where his parents, George and Henrietta (Worsam) Meade were residing during the British occupation of Philadelphia.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Richard Worsam Meade
Edit ProfileEducation
Meade attended private schools in Philadelphia and then entered his father's business and while so employed made several voyages to the West Indies.
Career
In 1795, as supercargo on board one of his father's vessels, Meade went to Europe and subsequently toured through England and France, returning in 1796. He then went to the island of Santo Domingo in the West Indies and established a business on his own account. At the end of three years he had accumulated a considerable fortune. After his return to Philadelphia he went into business, taking charge of his father's affairs which had become seriously complicated. While on a visit to Spain he decided to establish a commercial house in Cadiz, and in 1804 his family took up residence there. Two years later he was appointed naval agent for the United States at the port of Cadiz, a position which he held until 1816. He resided in Spain for seventeen years, living luxuriously and occupying a favored social position. He gathered a choice collection of pictures and statuary which later formed the basis for one of the first private collections in America. He also took an active interest in the exportation of merino sheep to the United States. Meade was in Spain during the Peninsular War. At the time of the French invasion he entered into many contracts with the Spanish government involving quantities of supplies of all kinds. In one year alone his vessels brought some 250, 000 barrels of flour to Cadiz. In the confusion which followed the return of Ferdinand VII to the throne, he was greatly embarrassed and delayed in obtaining a settlement of his claims. He also became involved in legal difficulties arising out of his efforts to settle the affairs of an insolvent English mercantile firm doing business in Cadiz of which he had been appointed assignee. He was ultimately arrested and imprisoned in May 1816 in the fort of Santa Catalina at Cadiz. After nearly two years he was released by a royal order, demanded by the United States minister to Spain. In the meantime he had sent his family to America and immediately upon his release moved to Madrid to continue his efforts to obtain payment of the amounts due him. On May 9, 1820, a special tribunal appointed by the Spanish government awarded him a certificate of debt amounting to $491, 153. 62. Under the Treaty of Florida, signed in 1819, all just claims of American citizens then existing against Spain, to the amount of five million dollars, were assumed by the United States. Meade returned to Philadelphia and later moved to Washington in order to prosecute his claim more vigorously. In 1822 the claims commission refused to consider the certificate of debt which he had received from the Spanish government, demanding original vouchers. Before these could be presented the session of the commission terminated and the fund which had been provided was exhausted. Meade retained some of the most famous lawyers in the country in an effort to obtain a rehearing of the claim and the passage of a bill for its payment by Congress, but was unsuccessful, as were his heirs in later attempts to prosecute the claim. Meade's disappointment undermined his health and he died in Washington, D. C. , at a comparatively early age.
Achievements
Connections
Meade was married in 1801 to Margaret Coates Butler. Richard Worsam, 1807-1870, and George Gordon Meade were his sons.
- Father:
- George Meade
- Brother:
- George Stretch Meade
- Brother:
- Garrett Meade
- Brother:
- Robert Meade
- Sister:
- Henrietta Constantia Meade Ketland
- Sister:
- Maria Meade
- Wife:
- Margaret Coats Butler Meade
- Mother:
- Henrietta (Worsam) Meade
- Daughter:
- Charlotte Hustler Meade Graham
- Daughter:
- Margaret Gordon Meade
- Daughter:
- Maria Del Carmen Meade Bache
- Daughter:
- Salvadora Meade Paterson
- Daughter:
- Henrietta Constantia Meade Dallas
- Daughter:
- Elizabeth Mary Meade Ingraham
- Daughter:
- Marianne M. Meade Huger
- Son:
- Robert Leamy Meade
- Son:
- Richard Worsam Meade
- Son:
- George Gordon Meade
29 February 1741 - 9 November 1808
26 August 1774 - 29 August 1774
1771 - 26 April 1773
20 September 1775 - 5 May 1796
August 1772 - 27 June 1801
Died on 17 July 1799.
20 September 1782 - 23 November 1852
9 July 1803 - 13 June 1843
22 June 1808 - 10 December 1887
12 March 1810 - 27 May 1877
27 December 1812 - 10 September 1886
29 October 1801 - 22 July 1831
14 September 1805 - 12 September 1872
4 September 1823 - 5 December 1857
23 November 1817 - 16 October 1841
21 May 1807 - 16 April 1870
31 December 1815 - 6 November 1872
