Portrait of Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (1769-1822)

Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, KG, GCH, PC, PC (Ire), usually known as Lord Castlereagh, was an Irish and British statesman. As British Foreign Secretary, from 1812 he was central to the management of the coalition that defeated Napoleon and was the principal British diplomat at the Congress of Vienna. Castlereagh was also leader of the British House of Commons in the Liverpool government from 1812 until his alleged suicide in August 1822. Early in his career, as Chief Secretary for Ireland, he was involved in putting down the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and was instrumental in securing the passage of the Irish Act of Union of 1800.[1]