(fl. 1727 d. c.1790), 3rd s. of Claude Jamineau, merchant; M.Temple 1727 (when his fa. was deceased); cons. Naples 1753 - 79.
1753 - 79 Naples
On 2 October 1753 Jamineau, 'lately appointed Consul at Naples' sailed from Lisbon1 and arrived in Naples in December; he had apparently come out from England.2 His appointment was again confirmed in 17633 and his replacement, James Douglas, was appointed in 1779. Jamineau had been wanting to return to England in 1770;4 he applied for a passport to travel to Rome in April 1775,5 and he may have been in London in December 1776.6
Jamineau appears to have been a difficult and pretentious man, at least in his later years. He was 'jealous of his rights and privileges' vis ? vis William Preston, the charg? d'affaires, when arranging the deceased Lord Baltimore's effects, and he alleged that, because of his friendship with the Abb? Grant, William Hamilton held Jacobite views. The Abb? suggested Jamineau was 'a French Jew',7 while he called Grant 'a damned rascal', and it was equally tactless of him to have a seal cut 'of his own Portrait with the Consular fasces' and to assume the air of 'a sort of minister' in Naples.8 Lady Hamilton later wrote that 'truth is not a quality that Jamineau is famous for'.6 But Charles Burney found him very helpful9 and for John Morgan he was both a friend and connoisseur - the patron of Benjamin West and Angelica Kauffman and one well capable of assessing the young J.S. Copley's abilities.(10) Jamineau collected works of art; he was exporting pictures and marbles from Rome in 1770 and 1771 and he shared a sale in London in 1768 (Langford's 3 - 4 Mar.).(11) His collection of 179 pictures and 5 sculptures was sold in 1790 (Christie's, 26 Feb.) and his portrait by Angelica Kauffman painted at Ischia in 1763 (according to its inscription) is in the Landeshauptstadt, Bregenz.
1. HMC Hastings, 3:85. 2. SP 93/12 (E. Allen, 24 Oct. 1753, and Jamineau, 1 Jan. 1754). 3. For his dipl. career, see Pagano de Divitiis. 4. Morrison, 1:16 (no.23). 5. ASN E 682.
6. Cf. Morrison, 1:49 (no.73). 7. Byres letters MSS c (30 Sep. 1771). 8. SP 93/28 (Hamilton, 20 Mar. 1773). 9. Burney, Tour, 313. 10. Copley, Letters, 206, 211. 11. Bertolotti, 3:268 - 9 (14 Oct. 1770, 4 Jun. 1771).