James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont KP PC (Ire) (18 August 1728 – 4 August 1799) was an Irish statesman.

Life

Early life

The son of James Caulfeild, 3rd Viscount Charlemont, he was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, and succeeded his father as 4th Viscount in 1734. His mother was Elizabeth Bernard, daughter of Francis Bernard, MP and judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) and Alice Ludlow. After his father's death, she remarried Thomas Adderley, and died in childbirth in 1743 at the age of 40, after the birth of her daughter Elizabeth, who later married Major David Ross. The title of Charlemont descended from

Sir Toby Caulfeild Sir Toby Caulfeild, 1st Baron Caulfeild of Charlemont (1565–1627) was an English army officer active in Ireland. Life He was born on 2 December 1565 the son of Alexander Caulfeild of Great Milton in Oxfordshire. As a youth, he served under Marti ...

(1565–1627) of Oxfordshire, England, who was given lands in Ireland, and created Baron Charlemont (the name of a fort on the Blackwater), for his services to

King James I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...

in 1620. The 1st Viscount was the 5th Baron (d. 1671), who was advanced in the peerage by Charles II.

Art and culture

Lord Charlemont was well known for his love of Classical art and culture and spent nine years on the Grand Tour in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

. He returned to Dublin and employed the Scottish architect

Sir William Chambers __NOTOC__ Sir William Chambers (23 February 1723 – 10 March 1796) was a Swedish-Scottish architect, based in London. Among his best-known works are Somerset House, and the pagoda at Kew. Chambers was a founder member of the Royal Academy. Bio ...

to remodel his main residence

Marino House Marino House and gardens was a Georgian house and estate in Marino, Dublin, Marino in the northern suburbs of Dublin, Ireland constructed sometime around 1755 and later remodeled by William Chambers (architect), William Chambers for James Caulfeil ...

and the unique Neo-Classical garden pavilion building adjacent, the Casino at Marino, as well as to design his townhouse

Charlemont House Charlemont House is a mansion in Dublin, Ireland. The house was built in 1763 and designed by William Chambers for James Caulfeild, the 1st Earl of Charlemont. It is a stone fronted mansion on Dublin's Parnell Square. It was purchased by the ...

. His former townhouse at 14

Jervis Street Jervis Street is a street on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland laid out in the 17th century and named for Sir Humphrey Jervis. Location It runs from Parnell Street in the north to Ormond Quay Lower in the south. It is crossed by Mary Str ...

was gifted to the then fledgling

Jervis Street Hospital Jervis Street Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Shráid Jervis) was a hospital in Jervis Street in Dublin, Ireland. The site of the hospital became the Jervis Shopping Centre. History The hospital was founded by six Dublin surgeons, George Duany, Patric ...

and opened in 1796.

Politics

Lord Charlemont is historically interesting for his political connection with

Henry Flood Henry Flood (1732 – 2 December 1791), Irish statesman, son of Warden Flood, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, where he became proficient ...

and

Henry Grattan Henry Grattan (3 July 1746 – 4 June 1820) was an Irish politician and lawyer who campaigned for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century from Britain. He was a Member of the Irish Parliament (MP) from 1775 to 18 ...

; he was a cultivated man with literary and artistic tastes, and both in Dublin and in London he had considerable social influence. He was the first President of the Royal Irish Academy and was a member of the Royal Dublin Society. He was appointed

Custos Rotulorum of County Armagh The Custos Rotulorum of County Armagh was the highest civil officer in County Armagh, Ireland. The position was later combined with that of Lord Lieutenant of Armagh. Incumbents *1661–1671 William Caulfeild, 1st Viscount Charlemont (also Custo ...

for life in 1760. For various early services in Ireland, he was made an earl in 1763, but he disregarded court favours and cordially joined Grattan in 1780 in the assertion of Irish independence. In 1783 he was made a founding

Knight of the Order of St Patrick The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick is a dormant British order of chivalry associated with Ireland. The Order was created in 1783 by King George III at the request of the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, The 3rd Earl Temple (later cre ...

. He was president of the volunteer convention in Dublin in November 1783, having taken a leading part in the formation of the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...

; and he was a strong opponent of the proposals for the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

. His eldest son, who succeeded him, was subsequently (1837) created an English Baron.

Personal life

In 1768 Charlemont married Mary Hickman, daughter of Thomas Hickman of Brickhill,

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,81 ...

. The marriage is said to have been a very happy one. They had two sons, James and Henry. His half-sister, Elizabeth Adderley (born 23 May 1743), was the mother of Major-General Robert Ross. The somewhat inaccurate ''Memoirs of the Political and Private Life of James Caulfield, Earl of Charlemont, Knight of St. Patrick'', by Francis Hardy, appeared in 1810.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Charlemont, James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of 1728 births 1799 deaths 18th-century Irish people Caulfeild, James Earls in the Peerage of Ireland Knights of St Patrick Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Members of the Royal Irish Academy Fellows of the Royal Society Viscounts Charlemont