Caroline Eden (''née'' Calvert; born ) was the daughter of

Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, (29 September 1699 – 24 April 1751) was a British nobleman and Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland. He inherited the title to Maryland aged just fifteen, on the death of his father and gra ...

, and sister of

Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore (6 February 1731 – 4 September 1771), styled The Hon. Frederick Calvert until 1751, was an English nobleman and last in line of the Barons Baltimore. Although he exercised almost feudal power in the Pr ...

. She married Sir Robert Eden, the last colonial Governor of Maryland, and was the mother of

Sir Frederick Eden, 2nd Baronet Sir Frederick Morton Eden, 2nd Baronet, of Maryland (18 June 1766 – 14 November 1809) was an English writer on poverty and pioneering social investigator. Early life Frederick Morton Eden was the eldest son of Sir Robert Eden, 1st Baronet, of ...

Early life

She was a daughter of

, and wife Mary Janssen. She had an older brother, Frederick Calvert (1731–1771) who succeeded his father to become the 6th and final

Baron Baltimore Baron Baltimore, of Baltimore, County Longford, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1625 and ended in 1771, upon the death of its sixth-generation male heir, aged 40. Holders of the title were usually known as Lord Baltimor ...

, and a sister, Louisa Calvert. The Barons Baltimore were lords proprietors of the

Maryland Colony The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Maryland ...

British America British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, which became the British Empire after the 1707 union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, in the Americas from 16 ...

, granting them semi-feudal control of the province, including the right to collect taxes, establish courts and appoint the governor.

American Revolution

On 26 April 1763 Caroline married

Robert Eden Robert Eden may refer to: *Sir Robert Eden, 1st Baronet, of West Auckland (c. 1644–1721), MP for County Durham * Sir Robert Eden, 3rd Baronet, of West Auckland (died 1794) * Sir Robert Johnson-Eden, 5th Baronet, of West Auckland (1774–1844) * S ...

(1741–1784). In 1769, Eden was appointed governor of Maryland; he would be the last colonial governor of the province. Upon the death of her brother,

, the colony of Maryland passed to Frederick's illegitimate son,

Henry Harford Henry Harford (5 April 1758 – 8 December 1834), 5th Proprietor of Maryland, was the last proprietary owner of the British colony of Maryland. He was born in 1758 the eldest — but illegitimate — son of Frederick Calvert 6th Baron Bal ...

. Despite his illegitimacy, the people of Maryland initially supported Harford and welcomed him as their new Lord Proprietor, even naming

Harford County, Maryland Harford County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 260,924. Its county seat is Bel Air. Harford County is included in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is al ...

after him in 1773. However, Governor

disputed Harford's inheritance, and in 1774 tried to claim a part of the estate on behalf of his wife Caroline. Before the English courts could rule on the case, the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

broke out. Caroline Eden would however lose her claim - Harford succeeded in winning his father's inheritance; the rents from the Calvert estates in Britain were awarded to Harford by Act of Parliament - the Estate Act of 1780. But in 1781 the new

State of Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to it ...

confiscated all of Henry Harford's estates and used their income to help finance the cash-strapped revolutionary government and its militia. After the war Harford made strenuous efforts to win compensation but without success.

Legacy

In 1773

Caroline County, Maryland Caroline County is a rural county located in the U.S. state of Maryland on its Eastern Shore. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,293. Its county seat is Denton. Caroline County is bordered by Queen Anne's County to the north, Talb ...

, was named in her honor. The county was formed from land belonging to

Dorchester County Dorchester County is the name of two counties in the United States: * Dorchester County, Maryland Dorchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. At the 2020 census, the population was 32,531. Its county seat is Cambridge ...

and

Queen Anne's County Queen Anne's County is located on the Eastern Shore of the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 49,874. Its county seat and most populous municipality is Centreville. The census-designated place of Stevensville i ...

.www.carolinemd.org
Retrieved September 2011

References

* Retrieved 2011

Notes

Year of birth missing Year of death missing 1740s births 18th-century English women 18th-century English people Calvert family Caroline County, Maryland Daughters of barons Caroline People of colonial Maryland Wives of baronets {{US-poli-bio-stub