Mordaunt, Charles, Earl of Peterborough, 1658-1735

Person

Mordaunt, Charles, Earl of Peterborough, 1658-1735

1658-1735

MORDAUNT, CHARLES, 3RD EARL OF PETERBOROUGH and 1ST EARL OF MONMOUTH, eldest son of John Mordaunt, 1st Viscount Mordaunt, and Elizabeth, dau. of Hon. Thomas Carey; b.; at school under Busby (Steward, Anniversary Dinner 1727/8); Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 11 Apr 1674, aged 16; succeeded father as 2nd Viscount Mordaunt 5 Jun 1675; served as volunteer with British fleet in Mediterranean 1674-7, 1678-9, and at Tangier 1680; associated with Essex, Russell and Sidney in 1682; said to have been the first to press the Prince of Orange (William III) “to undertake the business of England”; commanded a small Dutch squadron in West Indies 1687; attended William III on his landing at Torbay Nov 1688; Privy Councillor 14 Feb 1688/9; a Gentleman of the Bedchamber 1 Mar 1688/9 – Apr 1697; First Lord of the Treasury 8 Apr 1689 – Mar 1690/1; created Earl of Monmouth 9 Apr 1689; one of Queen’s Council of Nine 1689; went with King to Netherlands 1691, 1692; quarrelled with William III over conduct of war Dec 1692, and went into fierce opposition; imprisoned in Tower of London for his conduct in Fenwick’s case, and struck off Privy Council 21 Jan 1696/7; released 30 Mar 1697; succeeded uncle as 3rd Earl of Peterborough 19 Jun 1697; helped Somers to translate the Olynthiacs of Demosthenes 1702; restored to favour at Court on avccession of Anne; appointed Captain-Gen. and Governor of Jamaica 22 Dec 1702, but appointment cancelled as he declined to undertake an expedition against the Spanish settlements in the West Indies without the help of the Dutch; readmitted to Privy Council 29 Mar 1705; appointed with Sir Clowdesley Shovell to joint command of expedition to Spain May 1705; surprised Montjuich and captured Barcelona; entered Valencia 24 Jan 1705/6; proceeded to Genoa to arrange with the Duke of Savoy for a combined attack on Toulon; negotiated a loan at an exorbitant rate of interest without authority; returned to Valencia and recalled to England to give an account of his conduct of the war 11 Feb 1706/7; did not return until Aug 1707; employed John Friend (qv) to write An Account of the Earl of Peterborough’s Conduct in Spain; after two investigations by House of Lords, he received a vote of thanks 10 Feb 1710/1; Ambassador Extraordinary in Vienna, Turin, Frankfurt and Naples 1711-3; Col., Royal Horse Guards 19 Aug 1712 – 13 Jun 1715; KG 3 Aug 1713; Ambassador Exraordinary to Italian Princes Nov 1713; Governor of Minorca Mar 1714; recalled on accession of Whigs to power on accession of George I; General of Marine Forces in Great Britain 24 May 1722; Lord Lieut., Northamptonshire 30 May 1689 – 21 Jul 1715; a brilliant but untrustworthy man, of untiring energy and a craving for novelty and excitement; patron of literature and science; m. 1st, Carey, half-sister of Charles Fraser (qv); m. 2nd, Anastasia (Anastasia Robinson, singer), dau. of Thomas Brown, portrait painter; d. on his yacht off Lisbon 25 Oct 1735. DNB.

Mordaunt, Harry, 1663-1719 (1663-1719)

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Prepared for import into AtoM by Westminster School Archive staff, 2019-2020

Users should note that the information recorded here that is not to be found in the first two volumes of the Record of Old Westminsters and its first Supplement has been assembled from various published and manuscript sources by Hugh Edmund Pagan MA FSA, and all new resulting text is his copyright, © 2014.

The Record of Old Westminsters: A biographical list of all those who are known to have been educated at Westminster School from the earliest times to 1927, Volumes 1 & 2, compiled by G. F. Russell Barker and Alan H. Stenning, London, 1928.