Charles Hanbury Williams

This article is about the British diplomat and satirist. For other people called Charles or Charlie Williams, see Charles Williams.

Sir Charles Hanbury Williams KB
Sir Charles Hanbury Williams by John Giles Eccardt
Member of Parliament for Leominster
In office 1754–1759 Serving with Richard Gorges
Preceded by	Sir Robert de Cornwall James Peachey
Succeeded by	Richard Gorges Chase Price
Member of Parliament for Monmouthshire
In office 1735–1747 Serving with Thomas Morgan
Preceded by	John Hanbury Thomas Morgan
Succeeded by	William Morgan Capel Hanbury
Personal details
Born	(1708-12-08)8 December 1708
Died	2 November 1759(1759-11-02) (aged 50)
Spouse(s)	Lady Frances Coningsby ​ ​ (m. 1732;  1759)​
Relations	Sir Edward Ayscough (grandfather)
Parent(s)	John Hanbury Bridget Ayscough Hanbury

Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, KB (8 December 1708 – 2 November 1759) was a Welsh diplomat, writer and satirist. He was a Member of Parliament from 1734 until his death.

Early life

Hanbury was the son of a Welsh ironmaster, John Hanbury, and his second wife, Bridget Ayscough, eldest daughter of Sir Edward Ayscough of Stallingborough and South Kelsey. With his father's marriage to Bridget came a fortune of £10,000 and connections with established political families. His mother was a close friend of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough.

In 1720, Charles assumed the name of Williams, under the terms of a bequest from his godfather, Charles Williams of Caerleon.

Career

A letter to Sir Charles Williams, by Grand Duchess Catherine Alexeyevna

Williams entered Parliament in 1734 for the Monmouthshire constituency as a supporter of Robert Walpole and held the seat until 1747. He then won the seat of Leominster in 1754 and held it until his death.

From 1747 till 1750, Williams was the British Ambassador in Dresden. In 1748 he had the same function in Poland and witnessed a Polish Sejm, where he met members of the influential Czartoryski family (August Aleksander Czartoryski). When the future King of Poland, Stanisław Poniatowski, was receiving medical treatment in Berlin, Sir Charles met him when sent there as Ambassador (1750–1751). He entered into Polish and Russian history by introducing Stanisław to the Russian Grand Duchess Catherine Alexeyevna (Saint Petersburg 1755, the future Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia), from which a famous romance developed between them.

In 1739, Williams gave support for the establishment of the Foundling Hospital and served as one of its founding governors. Williams's father bought the Coldbrook Park estate near Abergavenny for him from his godfather's bequest. There, he added a nine-bay, two-storey Georgian façade in 1746.

Seven Years' War

Further information: Great Britain in the Seven Years War

Williams played a major role as a British envoy at the court in Russia during the Seven Years' War. Although Russia was at war with Britain's ally Prussia, the two countries remained at peace.

Horace Walpole praised the wit of his poetry and wrote of his "biting satire".

Personal life

On 1 July 1732, he married Lady Frances Coningsby (1707/8–1781) at Saint James, Westminster, London. Lady Frances was a daughter of Thomas Coningsby, 1st Earl Coningsby and Lady Frances Jones (second daughter and sole heiress of Richard Jones, 1st Earl of Ranelagh and the Hon. Frances Willoughby, a daughter and heiress of Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby). Together, they had two daughters:

• Frances Hanbury-Williams (c. 1735–1759), who married William Capel, 4th Earl of Essex, the son of William Capell, 3rd Earl of Essex and Lady Elizabeth Russell (a daughter of Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford).
• Charlotte Hanbury-Williams (1738–1790), who married Robert Boyle-Walsingham, the fifth and youngest son of Henry Boyle, 1st Earl of Shannon, in 1759. He was lost aboard HMS Thunderer in a West Indian hurricane.

He died insane in 1759 and the Coldbrook estate passed to his brother George. His widow died on 31 December 1781 and was buried at Westminster Abbey.

Descendants

Through his eldest daughter Frances, he was a grandfather of Elizabeth Capel (wife of John Monson, 3rd Baron Monson) and George Capel-Coningsby, 5th Earl of Essex (who married Sarah Bazett and, after her death, Catherine Stephens).

Through his second daughter Charlotte, he was a grandfather of Richard Boyle-Walsingham (1762–1788), who died unmarried, and Charlotte Boyle-Walsingham, later suo jure Baroness de Ros, who married Lord Henry FitzGerald, the fourth son of the 1st Duke of Leinster and the Duchess of Leinster .

Legacy

Williams was the inspiration for the character Charles Edaston in the 1913 George Bernard Shaw play Great Catherine, which recounts the story of a British envoy to Catherine's court. It was made into a film starring Peter O'Toole in 1968. Williams also left poems which were said to be "witty but licentious".

Sources

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons – via Wikisource.

Further reading

• David B. Horn, Sir Charles Hanbury Williams and European diplomacy, 1747–58, London et al. 1930: Harrap

External links

• Sir Charles Hanbury Williams at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)