William Henry Stiles (January 1, 1808 – December 20, 1865) was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as aUnited States Representative fromGeorgia from 1843 to 1845.
He was the grandson ofJoseph Clay.
Born inSavannah, Georgia, in 1808, Stiles attended high school at theHopkins School inNew Haven, Connecticut. He was descended from the English colonelThomas Stiles who fought in theEnglish Civil War.[1]
After graduating from Hopkins, Stiles studied law atYale College, gained admittance to the statebar in 1831 and practiced law in Savannah.
He served as the solicitor general for Georgia's eastern district from 1833 to 1836, andUnited States Attorney for the District of Georgia from 1836 to 1838. In 1842, Stiles was elected as aDemocraticRepresentative from Georgia to the28th United States Congress and served one term from March 4, 1843, until March 3, 1845.[2]
On April 19, 1845, Stiles was appointed byU.S. PresidentJames Polk aschargé d'affaires to theAustrian Empire, a position which he held until October 1849.[3]
He then returned to his beloved Etowah Cliffs in Cass County where he had a plantation, and lived with his wife Eliza Anne MacKay Stiles, and his children: Mary Cowper Stiles, William Henry Stiles Jr., and Robert MacKay Stiles, and was elected to theGeorgia House of Representatives in 1858 and served as that body'sspeaker of the house.[2]
Stiles served as one of Georgia's at-large delegates to the commercial congress inMontgomery, Alabama, in 1858. Also in 1858 he delivered an address,Southern Education for Southern Youth, to the Cherokee Baptist College. He also was a delegate to the1860 Democratic National Convention. During theAmerican Civil War, Stiles served as a colonel in theConfederate States Army.
He died in Savannah on December 20, 1865, and was buried inLaurel Grove Cemetery in that same city.[2]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromGeorgia's at-large congressional district March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1845 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | U.S. Chargé to the Austrian Empire 1845–1849 | Succeeded by |
 Austrian Empire(1838–1867) |  | |
|---|---|---|
 Austro-Hungarian Empire(1867–1917) | ||
 Republic of Austria(1921–1938, 1946–present) | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
