Charlotte Lee, Lady Baltimore (23 March 1678 , (13 March 1678 OS) – 1 February 1721, (22 January 1721 OS), was an English noblewoman, and granddaughter of King

Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...

and his mistress

Barbara Villiers Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, Countess of Castlemaine (née Barbara Villiers, – 9 October 1709), was an English royal mistress of the Villiers family and perhaps the most notorious of the many mistresses of King Charles II of Eng ...

. She married in 1699,

Benedict Leonard Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore Benedict Leonard Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore (21 March 1679 – 16 April 1715) was an English nobleman and politician. He was the second son of Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore (1637–1715) by Jane Lowe, and became his father's heir upon ...

, from whom she separated in 1705; she later married Christopher Crowe. She was the mother 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 of

Benedict Leonard Calvert Benedict Leonard Calvert (September 20, 1700 – June 1, 1732) was the 15th Proprietary Governor of Maryland from 1727 through 1731, appointed by his older brother, Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore (1699–1751). He was named after his fath ...

, who was Governor of Maryland from 1727–1731.

Early life

Lady Charlotte Lee was born on 13 March 1678 at

St. James's Park St James's Park is a park in the City of Westminster, central London. It is at the southernmost tip of the St James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St James the Less. It is the most easterly of a near-continuous ch ...

, St. James,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

.ThePeerage.com.pp.7641.#76403 She was the eldest of at least fourteen children of

Edward Henry Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield Edward Henry Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield (4 February 1663 – 14 July 1716) was an England, English peerage, peer, the son of a baronet, who at 14 years of age married one of the illegitimate daughters of King Charles II, Charlotte Lee, Countess of ...

(4 February 1663 – 14 July 1716) and Lady Charlotte Fitzroy (5 September 1664 – 17 February 1718), illegitimate daughter of King Charles II by his mistress Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine, Duchess of Cleveland. Lady Charlotte's mother was fourteen years old at the time of her birth, having married the Earl of Lichfield at the age of thirteen. Her father was also only fifteen at the time of her birth Her paternal grandparents were Sir Francis Henry Lee of Ditchley, 4th Baronet of Quarendon and Elizabeth Pope, daughter of

Thomas Pope, 2nd Earl of Downe Thomas Pope, 2nd Earl of Downe (1622–1660) was an English nobleman and Royalist. Life Baptised at Cogges, near Witney, 16 December 1622, the eldest of the three sons of Sir William Pope, Knt. (1596–1624), by Elizabeth, sole heiress of Sir Tho ...

Marriage to Lord Baltimore

On 2 January 1699, at the age of twenty, she married her first husband Benedict Leonard Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore (21 March 1679 – 16 April 1715), son of

Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore (August 27, 1637 – February 21, 1715), inherited the colony of Maryland in 1675 upon the death of his father, Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, (1605–1675). He had been his father's Deputy Governor sin ...

and Jane Lowe. Charlotte assumed the title of Lady Baltimore in February 1715, when her husband succeeded to the title of 4th Baron Baltimore upon the death of his father, the third Baron Baltimore. The title of

Proprietary Governor A proprietary colony was a type of English colony mostly in North America and in the Caribbean in the 17th century. In the British Empire, all land belonged to the monarch, and it was his/her prerogative to divide. Therefore, all colonial proper ...

of the

Province of Maryland 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 ...

had been lost to the third Baron during the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...

and would be restored to Charles Calvert, the son of Charlotte and Benedict, upon the latter's death on 16 April 1715. Charlotte and Lord Baltimore had six children: *

, 18th Proprietor Governor 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 ...

, FRS (29 September 1699 – 24 April 1751), married Mary Janssen, daughter of Sir Theodore Janssen, 1st Baronet Janssen and Williamsa Henley,ThePeerage.com by whom he had three children, including

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 ...

, Louisa Calvert, and Caroline Calvert. He also had an illegitimate son, by the name of

Benedict Swingate Calvert Benedict Swingate Calvert (January 27, 1722 – January 9, 1788) was a planter, politician and a Loyalist in Maryland during the American Revolution. He was the son of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, the third Proprietor Governor of Mar ...

, who settled in Maryland, and married his cousin

Elizabeth Calvert Elizabeth Calvert (1731 – 1788) was the daughter of Maryland Governor Captain Charles Calvert and Rebecca Gerard, and a wealthy heiress in colonial Maryland. Her parents died when she was young, leaving her their substantial fortune. In 1 ...

. * Hon.

Governor of Maryland The Governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...

, (1700–1731). He died 1 June 1732 on his passage home to England * Hon. Edward Henry Calvert (born ca. 1700), held the office of Commissary General and President of the council of

. * Hon. Charlotte Calvert (died December 1744), married Thomas Breerwood, by whom she had a son, Francis Breerwood * Hon. Jane Calvert (died July 1778), married John Hyde, with whom she had three children. * Hon. Cecil Calvert (born 1702) Charlotte and Lord Baltimore were separated in 1705. In 1706 Charlotte had an affair with Colonel

Robert Fielding Robert Fielding (or ''Feilding''; also nicknamed Beau Fielding; 1650/51 – 12 May 1712) was an English bigamist and rake in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He was known as a handsome womanizer at the royal court of King Charles II ...

, then the bigamous husband of her grandmother the Duchess of Cleveland, and was rumoured to have borne a child by him, born on 23 April 1707. In 1711, Lord Baltimore brought a Bill before the House of Lords (which adjudicated on matters of inheritance of titles and estates) to confirm his divorce from Lady Charlotte, their financial settlement, and that any subsequent children she bore would be declared illegitimate.

Marriage to Christopher Crowe

Lady Baltimore married her second husband Christopher Crowe (c.1681 – 9 November 1749), Consul at Leghorn, sometime before 10 December 1719. Charlotte was three years older than her husband. This marriage produced five more children: * James Crowe (1715-1801), married Rebecca Sarah Crowberry (1717-1761) * Christopher Crowe (1716–1776), married Barbara Duncombe * Catherine Crowe (1717 – 1782), married Roger Henry Gale * Charlotte Crowe (1718–1742) * George Crowe (25 November 1719 – 10 October 1782), married Anne Swift, by whom he had a son, Robert.

Death and legacy

Charlotte Lee died of

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including art ...

ThePeerage.com.p.7641.#76403 on 22 January 1721 at Woodford Hall, Woodford,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. She was buried at Woodford on 29 January 1721. She died

intestate Intestacy is the condition of the estate of a person who dies without having in force a valid will or other binding declaration. Alternatively this may also apply where a will or declaration has been made, but only applies to part of the estat ...

and her estate was administered on 4 March 1721 at Woodford Hall.

In fiction

Charlotte Lee appears as a minor character in

Anya Seton Anya Seton (January 23, 1904 – November 8, 1990), born Ann Seton, was an American author of historical fiction, or as she preferred they be called, "biographical novels". Career Seton published her first novel, '' My Theodosia'', in 1941. Seto ...

's historical romance ''Devil Water''.

Ancestry

References

Sources

* G.E. Cokayne, ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extanct, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910–1959) * Antonia Fraser, ''King Charles II'', Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd., London, 1979 * www.ThePeerage.com.pp. 7641,#76403 * Antonia Fraser, ''King Charles II'',p. 414

External links

www.thepeerage.com
Retrieved January 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Charlotte 1678 births 1721 deaths

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

Charlotte Lee, Lady Baltimore Charlotte Lee, Lady Baltimore

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Daughters of British earls