Charles George Beauclerk (20 January 1774 – 25 December 1845) was an English politician who served as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for the borough of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

from 1796 to 1798.

Background and education

He was the only son of

Topham Beauclerk Topham Beauclerk ( ; 22 December 1739 – 11 March 1780) was a celebrated wit and a friend of Dr Johnson and Horace Walpole. Life Topham Beauclerk was born on 22 December 1739, the only son of Lord Sidney Beauclerk and a great-grandson of King ...

and

Lady Diana Spencer Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

Lady of the Bedchamber Lady of the Bedchamber is the title of a lady-in-waiting holding the official position of personal attendant on a British queen regnant or queen consort. The position is traditionally held by the wife of a peer. They are ranked between the Mis ...

Queen Charlotte Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and of Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until the union of the two kingdoms ...

. He had two half-brothers by his mother's first marriage to

Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, 3rd Viscount St John (21 December 1732 – 5 May 1787), was a British Viscount and landowner. His father was John St John, 2nd Viscount St John, half-brother of Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke ...

, namely

George St John, 3rd Viscount Bolingbroke George Richard St John, 3rd Viscount Bolingbroke and 4th Viscount St John (5 March 1761 – 11 December 1824), styled The Honourable George St John from birth until 1787, was a British peer and politician. He became famous in his own lifetime for ...

and

Frederick St John (British Army officer) General Frederick St John (20 December 1765 — 19 November 1844) was an officer of the British Army and a politician.''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820'', ed. R. Thorne, 1986 He rose to the rank of general during his ca ...

. He had twin elder sisters: Elisabeth Beauclerk, who married their cousin

George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke General George Augustus Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke and 8th Earl of Montgomery (10 September 1759 – 26 October 1827) was an English peer, army officer, and politician. Early life He was born Lord Herbert at the family home, Wilton House ...

, and (Anne) Mary Day Beauclerk, who famously had a long-term relationship with their half-brother Bolingbroke, resulting in several children. After an education at Eton (1782) and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

(1790), George Beauclerk went on a

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

in 1794. He was a member of

Brooks's Brooks's is a gentlemen's club in St James's Street, London. It is one of the oldest and most exclusive gentlemen's clubs in the world. History In January 1762, a private society was established at 50 Pall Mall by Messrs. Boothby and James ...

and the

Whig Club Whig or Whigs may refer to: Parties and factions In the British Isles * Whigs (British political party), one of two political parties in England, Great Britain, Ireland, and later the United Kingdom, from the 17th to 19th centuries ** Whiggism ...

Career

On his return from the Continent, he paid £5000 for the constituency of Richmond in 1796, but his shyness held him back, and he is not known to have spoken in Parliament. Beauclerk "took the

Chiltern Hundreds The Chiltern Hundreds is an ancient administrative area in Buckinghamshire, England, composed of three " hundreds" and lying partially within the Chiltern Hills. "Taking the Chiltern Hundreds" refers to one of the legal fictions used to effect r ...

" (i.e. resigned as an MP) in 1798, having sat as an opposition MP for just two years.

Marriage and family

Holland House Holland House, originally known as Cope Castle, was an early Jacobean country house in Kensington, London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

the political hostess and saloniere

Elizabeth Fox, Baroness Holland Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Baroness Holland (1771 – London, November 1845) was an English political hostess and the wife of Whig politician Henry Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland. With her husband, and after his death, she hosted political and litera ...

introduced him to Emily Charlotte "Mimie" Ogilvie (May 1778–22 January 1832), daughter of William Ogilvie and

Emily FitzGerald, Duchess of Leinster Emily FitzGerald, Duchess of Leinster (6 October 1731 – 27 March 1814), known before 1747 as Lady Emily Lennox, from 1747 to 1761 as The Countess of Kildare and from 1761 to 1766 as The Marchioness of Kildare, was the second of the famous Lenno ...

. Much to the delight of Lady Holland and Beauclerk's friend Lord Holland, the couple married a month later. Emily W. Sunstein, an American biographer of Mary Shelley, describes Charles Beauclerk as a "shy intellectual" and the marriage as "incompatible" In 1803 he built his

family seat A family seat or sometimes just called seat is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families to ...

, St Leonard's Lodge, in

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

. Neighbours included

Timothy Shelley Sir Timothy Shelley, 2nd Baronet (7 September 1753 – 24 April 1844) was an English politician and lawyer. He was the son of Sir Bysshe Shelley, 1st Baronet of Castle Goring and the father of Romantic poet and dramatist Percy Bysshe Shelley. ...

at Field Place and

Thomas Medwin Thomas Medwin (20 March 1788 –2 August 1869) was an early 19th-century English writer, poet and translator. He is known chiefly for his biography of his cousin, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and for published recollections of his friend, Lord Byron. ...

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

. The Beauclerks circa 1820 travelled ''en famille'' to the Continent. Charles took the boys to Geneva, while Emily supervised the girls in Pisa.

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...

and

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic fiction, Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of scie ...

had made their home in the Italian city, and Emily tried to persuade Percy to come to her soirees, an experience which he did not want to repeat until she called on Mary. Medwin, on the other hand, who was seeking a wealthy wife, was happy to attend her sociable evenings. He introduced her to

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

(at both their requests).

Claire Clairmont Clara Mary Jane Clairmont (27 April 1798 – 19 March 1879), or Claire Clairmont as she was commonly known, was the stepsister of the writer Mary Shelley and the mother of Lord Byron's daughter Allegra. She is thought to be the subject of a poe ...

said Medwin and Emily Beauclerk were the two biggest gossips in Pisa - on which anecdotes Medwin based his ''Conversations with Byron'' (1824).

Edward Ellerker Williams Edward Ellerker Williams (22 April 1793 – 8 July 1822) was a retired army officer who became a friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley in the final months of his life and died with him. Early life Edward Williams was born in India, the son of an East ...

wrote to

Edward John Trelawny Edward John Trelawny (13 November 179213 August 1881) was a British biographer, novelist and adventurer who is best known for his friendship with the Romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. Trelawny was born in England to a family ...

, attempting to draw him to Pisa: The couple are variously recorded as having three sons and six daughters or seven daughters and six sons. Their eldest son was Aubrey Beauclerk, an MP, with whom the widowed

was said to be romantically involved. Another son, George Robert Beauclerk, was also an MP. Their daughter Diana Olivia married

Sir Francis Fletcher-Vane, 3rd Baronet Sir Francis Fletcher-Vane, 3rd Baronet (29 March 1797 – 15 February 1842), was a British landowner and aristocrat who served as High Sheriff of Cumberland in 1837.E. M. Swinhoe, editor, Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, ...

of Hutton. Their daughter Georgiana "Gee" Paul was one of Mary Shelley's closest friends.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beauclerk, Charles George

Charles George Charles George (August 23, 1932November 30, 1952) was a United States Army, U.S. Army soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in combat on November 30, 1952, during the Korean War. He was fatally wounded when he threw himself on ...

Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies People educated at Eton College Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies 1774 births 1845 deaths