Robert Bunch KCMG (born September 11, 1820, died March 21, 1881) was a British diplomat, who was a secret agent present in the United States South during the American Civil War.
[3] In particular, Mathew was vocally against South Carolina's recent rule of incarcerating British African sailors while in port.
[3] Robert Bunch was from 1841 to 1845 attaché and private secretary of William Pitt Adams in Bogotá and Lima.
In September 1844 he was sent together with Captain Sir Thomas Thompson as Joint Commissioner to the Supreme Junta of Government of Peru to Arequipa.
In addition to this, his mother's lineage also includes Tories who spied for the British in the American Revolution and the War of 1812.
In Charleston, the previous diplomat, George Buckley-Mathew, created disarray and confusion regarding the treatment of Negro-British sailors.
From Charleston, Bunch was to supply the London Slave Trade Department with meticulous and detailed letters about any American's attempting to oppose Britain's policies in the Caribbean as well as the Atlantic.
To the eyes of the Carolinians, Bunch only took reports of various items going out or coming into the port on ships, however, the main aspect of his diplomacy was a secret.