Richard Wall y Devereux (5 November 1694 – 26 December 1777) was a Spanish military officer, statesman and diplomat who served as Chief Minister of Spain from 1754 to 1763.
Early life
Wall belonged to a family settled in Kilmallock, one of whom was Bishop of Limerick.[1] Richard "Ricardo" Wall y Devereux was born at Nantes to a family of Irish Jacobite refugees, supporters of the Catholic James II, deposed King of England, Scotland and Ireland. He was baptized two days after his birth at the Cathedral Church of Saint Nicholas in unfavourable circumstances: his father, Matthew "Matías" Wall of Killmallock, County Limerick, a long-serving officer in King James II's cavalry, was absent. His family then lived in the "pit of the well of the silver" supported by a relative, probably Gilbert Wall, the clockmaker.
He returned to Spain in 1729. Between 1732 and 1734, he served in the expedition to Tuscany which placed Prince Carlos on the throne of Parma. Shortly after, he took part in the War of Naples (1734–35), seeing action at Capua, Messina and Syracuse.
Wounded in action at Piacenza (1746), he transferred to diplomatic service and, in May 1747, was posted to Genoa on a temporary mission "concerning solely military matters"; soon after afterwards, he was posted to London by the new Spanish Minister of State, José de Carvajal, a friend of Huescar.
Ambassador in London
Wall's diplomatic mission to London was for negotiating peace between the Bourbons and Great Britain, but it soon ran into difficulties not least because of reservations in British ministerial quarters about his Irish and Jacobite roots, but also from infighting on the Spanish side by the Marquess of Tabuérniga later de La Ensenada who had coveted his position.
The despatches of the British Minister, Sir Benjamin Keene, and those of his successor, George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol, contain many references to General Wall. They are creditable to him. Though a constant partisan of peace and good relations with Britain, Wall was firm in asserting the rights of the government he served. During the early stages of the Seven Years' War (1756–63) he insisted on claiming compensation for the excesses of British privateers in Spanish waters. He frequently complained to British officials about the difficulties which these adventurers' violence was causing. As an expatriate, despite having previously represented the French Crown, he was often taunted by various French factions.
Wall himself was more concerned that Britain's colonial acquisitions from France could mean that Spain's South American Empire was threatened. The new King Charles III (1759–88) retained Wall as Prime Minister. When Spain declared War in 1761, Wall as Prime Minister naturally carried out his King's decree, although he later confessed to Lord Bristol, the British Ambassador, some regret with the benefit of hindsight that he could see the failure of his efforts in preserving the peace. The close relations between Charles III and the French Bourbon Kings later made General Wall's position as Prime Minister very trying. Yet King Charles, who detested changing his ministers, refused all Wall's requests to retire, till Wall exhorted himself in 1763 by elaborately affecting an imaginary eye disease.
General Wall spent the rest of his life, until 1777, between homes in Alhama de Almeria and near Granada, welcoming all visitors and particularly English travelers exploring Spain's culture. He left a reputation as being a very able minister as well as a most witty conversationalist.[citation needed]
He died on 26 December 1777, imparting a few words to his friend and confessor, Juan Miguel Kayser. A subsequent lawsuit between his natural heirs – namely, his cousin Eduardo Wall and family – and those of his confessor, somewhat clouded his memory for a while.[citation needed]
NB: some clarifications on General Wall's life: contrary to Coxe's writings he was never sent on a mission to Spanish America nor did he lay plans for retaking Jamaica from the British. Coxe confuses one John Savy, nicknamed Miguel Wall, with Richard Wall, nor was Wall ever Ambassador to The Netherlands.[7]
Coxe's Memoirs of the Kings of Spain of the House of Bourbon (London, 1815).
Diario del viaje a Moscovia, 1727–1730, of the duke of Liria (vol. xciii. of the Documentos inéditos para la historia de España), (Madrid, 1842, et seq.).
Téllez Alarcia, D., "La misión secreta de D. Ricardo Wall en Londres (1747–1748)" in Brocar, 24, 2000, pp. 49–71.
Téllez Alarcia, D., "Guerra y regalismo a comienzos del reinado de Carlos III. El final del ministerio Wall" in Hispania, 209, 2001, pp. 1051–90.
Téllez Alarcia, D., "L’exil jacobite irlandais et l’Ouest de la France (1691–1716)" in DENÉCHÈRE, Y. y MARAIS, J. L. (dirs.), Les étrangers dans l’Ouest de la France (XVIIIe–XXe siècle). Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l’Ouest, 109, 2002, pp. 25–40.
Téllez Alarcia, D., "La supuesta anglofilia de D. Ricardo Wall. Filias y fobias políticas durante el reinado de Fernando VI" in Revista de Historia Moderna. Anales de la Universidad de Alicante, 21, 2003, pp. 501–36.
Téllez Alarcia, D., "Richard Wall: light and shade of an Irish minister in Spain (1694–1777)" in Irish Studies Review, 11.2, August 2003, pp. 123–36.
Téllez Alarcia, D., "El grupo irlandés bajo el ministerio Wall (1754–63)" in *VILLAR GARCÍA, M. B. y PEZZI CRISTÓBAL, P. (eds.), Los Extranjeros en la España Moderna: Actas del I Coloquio Internacional. Málaga 28–30 de noviembre de 2002, 2 tomos, Málaga, 2003, Tomo II, pp. 737–50.
Téllez Alarcia, D., "Anson, Wall y el cambio de rol del 'Lago español' en el enfrentamiento colonial Hispano-británico (1740–1762)", in Tiempos Modernos, 11, 2004, pp. 1–8.
Téllez Alarcia, D., "El joven Campomanes y el ministro Wall (1754–63)" in MATEOS DORADO, D. (ed.), Campomanes doscientos años después, Oviedo, 2003, pp. 417–31.
Téllez Alarcia, D., D. Ricardo Wall. Aut Caesar aut nullus, Madrid, 2008.
Téllez Alarcia, D., Absolutismo e Ilustración en la España del s. XVIII. El Despotismo Ilustrado de D. Ricardo Wall, Madrid, 2010
Téllez Alarcia, D., El ministerio Wall. La "España Discreta" del "Ministro Olvidado", Madrid, 2012.