Charles Hanbury Williams
Sir Charles Hanbury Williams | |
---|---|
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 | 8 December 1708 |
Died | 2 November 1759 | (aged 50)
Spouse(s) |
Lady Frances Coningsby
(m. 1732; "his death" is deprecated; use "died" instead. 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
The son of Welsh ironmaster John Hanbury and, his second wife, Bridget Ayscough, eldest daughter of Sir Edward Ayscough of Stallingborough and South Kelsey. With his 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
He 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, he was the British ambassador in Dresden. In 1748 he was 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, he met Sir Charles, who was sent there as ambassador (1750–1751). This Welshman became part of 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 that moment began the famous romance between Catherine and Poniatowski.
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 in 1746 he added a nine-bay, two-storey Georgian façade in 1746.
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".[1]
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).[2] 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).[3]
- 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.[4]
He died insane in 1759 and the Coldbrook estate passed to his brother George.[5]. 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).[3]
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 .[6]
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".[7]
Sources
- ^ Stewart, Mary Margaret. "Williams, Sir Charles Hanbury". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29488. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Coningsby, Earl of (GB, 1719 - 1761)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
- ^ a b "Essex, Earl of (E, 1661)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
- ^ "Shannon, Earl of (I, 1756)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
- ^ An Historical Tour in Monmouthshire, Volume 2. p. 279.
- ^ "de Ros, Baron (E, 1299)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
- ^ Davenport, Richard Alfred (1831). A Dictionary of Biography p. 571. Chiswick Press. p. 571.
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
- 1708 births
- 1759 deaths
- British MPs 1734–1741
- British MPs 1741–1747
- British MPs 1754–1761
- Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath
- Lord-Lieutenants of Herefordshire
- Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
- Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Welsh constituencies
- Ambassadors of Great Britain to Russia
- Ambassadors of Great Britain to Poland