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

statesman A statesman or stateswoman is a politician or a leader in an organization who has had a long and respected career at the national or international level, or in a given field. Statesman or statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States ...

Life

Early life

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

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, 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) The Court of Common Pleas was one of the principal courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror image of the equivalent court in England. Common Pleas was one of the four courts of justice which gave the Four Courts in Dublin, which is sti ...

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 (1565–1627) of

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, 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 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, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. He promised

Giovanni Battista Piranesi Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Piranesi (; also known as simply Piranesi; 4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian classical archaeologist, architect, and artist, famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric " ...

money to print the 1756 edition of '' Le antichità romane''. When Charlemont did not provide the funds, Piranesi scratched his name from the dedication print inspired by the Roman practice of . The artist pleaded his point in ("Justification letters written to Lord Charlemont") (1757). 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-British architect. Among his best-known works are Somerset House, the Gold State Coach and the pagoda at Kew. Chambers was a founder member of the Royal Academy. ...

to remodel his main residence

Marino House Marino House and gardens was a Georgian house and estate in Marino in the northern suburbs of Dublin, Ireland, constructed sometime around 1755 and later remodeled by Sir William Chambers for the 1st Earl of Charlemont. Chambers later also desig ...

and the unique Neo-Classical garden pavilion building adjacent, the

Casino at Marino The Casino at Marino is a Neo-Classical summer or pleasure house, originally located in the grounds of Marino House in Dublin, Ireland. Sometimes described as a folly, it was designed by Scottish architect William Chambers and executed by Sim ...

, 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 (architect), William Chambers for James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont, James Caulfeild, the 1st Earl of Charlemont. It is a stone ...

. 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. It runs from Parnell Street in the north to Ormond Quay Lower in the south. It is crossed by Mary Street, Ab ...

was gifted to the then fledgling

Jervis Street Hospital Jervis Street Hospital () was a hospital in Jervis Street in Dublin, Ireland. The site of the hospital became the Jervis Shopping Centre. History Charitable infirmary, Cook Street The hospital was founded by six Dublin surgeons, George Duany, ...

and opened in 1796.

Politics

Lord Charlemont is historically interesting for his political connection with

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

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 The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

and was a member of the

Royal Dublin Society The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) () is an Irish philanthropic organisation and members club which was founded as the 'Dublin Society' on 25 June 1731 with the aim to see Ireland thrive culturally and economically. It was long active as a learned ...

. He was appointed Custos Rotulorum of County Armagh 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. Earl of Charlemont1

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 (), also known as the Irish Volunteer Force or the Irish Volunteer Army, was a paramilitary organisation established in 1913 by nationalists and republicans in Ireland. It was ostensibly formed in response to the format ...

; and he was a strong opponent of the proposals for the Union. 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 () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

. 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 James Caulfeild, James Earls in the Peerage of Ireland Knights of St Patrick Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Fellows of the Royal Society Viscounts Charlemont Presidents of the Royal Irish Academy