GEORGE (Earl Macartney), was the only son of a gentleman of Scottish descent, and was born in 1737 at the family estate of Lissanoure, near Belfast, in Ireland. After graduating at Trinity College, Dublin, he repaired to London in 1759, and became a student of the Inner Temple. In 1764 he was appointed envoy extraordinary to the Empress of Russia. He returned in 1761, and after sitting for some time in the British parliament as member for Cockermouth, he became chief secretary for Ireland in 1769. On the expiry of this office in 1772 he was created Knight of the Bath. Appointed governor of Granada in 1775, Macartney was taken prisoner on the surrender of that island to the French in 1779, but was soon afterwards released. He became president of Madras in 1780, and would have been installed in the high office of governor-general of India had not his impaired health forced him to return to England in 1789. In 1792 he was appointed ambassador extraordinary to the court of Pekin. He was thus the first English envoy sent to China; and if he did not succeed in attaining the results expected, the fault was in nowise his. Immediately before his return in 1794, the title of baron, which had been conferred on him in 1776, was changed into that of Earl Macartney. He held the governorship of the Cape of Good Hope from 1796 until he was compelled by declining health to resign it in 1798. After living for some time in retirement, Lord Macartney died at Chiswick in 1806.

An account of his public life, with a selection from his unpublished writings, was published by his private secretary Barrow, in 2 vols. 4to, London, 1807. Sir George Staunton, who accompanied him to China as secretary, wrote an account of his Chinese embassy in 2 vols. 4to, London, 1797.