Enid Robbie Ph.D

The Forgotten Commissioner
Sir William Mildmay and the Anglo-French Commission of 1750-1755

Available from Michigan State University Press

As a middle-aged London lawyer, Sir William Mildmay had a reputation for prudence and frugality that had landed him a position on the Anglo-French Commission in Paris. The Commission’s ongoing negotiations and failure to ratify the 1748 treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle and resolve longstanding differences were to have far-reaching consequences for the futures of Britain, France, Canada, the American colonies and India.

The contents of William Mildmay’s letters, his private commission journal, and his official commission reports provide remarkable first-hand insight into the tortuous process of eighteenth century diplomacy. Mildmay’s notes also raise the fascinating possibility that in the early summer 1752, a successful end of the treaty negotiations might have been possible, thus preventing or delaying the Seven Years’ War. Given the importance of the resulting conflagration for Britain and its Empire, Mildmay’s detailed descriptions of the commissions work is a remarkable and unique chronicle of a crucial episode in British and French diplomacy.

Enid Robbie’s Forgotten Commissioner resurrects the uncertainties, personalities, infighting, and political double-dealing behind the Anglo-French Commission through an examination of one of its quietest but most dedicated participants. As Robbie weaves Mildmay’s personal fortunes through the larger diplomatic negotiations, the reader understands that politics and diplomacy were life-and-death professions, not just for nations, but for individual careers.

click to purchase

"A seminal work of superbly dedicated scholarship, The Forgotten Commissioner: Sir William Mildmay And The Anglo-french Commission Of 1750-1755 by the late British Diplomatic History expert Enid Robbie, is an informed and informative study of political intrigue between Britian and France during the era when America and Canada were still colonies. Double-dealings, diplomatic negotiations, and tensions that ultimately caused the Seven Years' War are all scrutinized in detail in this singularly absorbing and minutely detailed account."
- Midwest Book Review