Charles Marsham, 2nd Earl of Romney

Charles Marsham, 2nd Earl of Romney (22 November 1777[1] – 29 March 1845), styled Viscount Marsham between 1801 and 1811, was a British peer and politician.

Portrait of Charles Marsham, 2nd Earl of Romney

Biography

Romney was the son of Charles Marsham, 1st Earl of Romney, and Lady Frances, daughter of Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont.[2]

Romney was Member of Parliament for Hythe from 1798 to 1802 and from 1806 to 1807[2] and for Downton from 1803 to 1806. In 1809 he was commissioned as Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the Bearsted and Malling Regiment of Local Militia.[3] In 1811 he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords.

According to the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership at the University College London, Romney was awarded a payment as a slave trader in the aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 with the Slave Compensation Act 1837. The British Government took out a £15 million loan (worth £1.51 billion in 2023[4]) with interest from Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore which was subsequently paid off by the British taxpayers (ending in 2015). Romney was associated with three different claims, two of which were successful, he owned 432 slaves in Saint Kitts and Nevis and received a £7,268 payment at the time (worth £733,815 in 2023[4]).[5]

Marriages and children

Lord Romney was twice married.[6] On 9 September 1806 he married Sophia Pitt, daughter of William Morton Pitt.[1] They had one son and four daughters:

  • Lady Sophia Marsham (born 13 July 1807, died 4 January 1863), who married Peter Richard Hoare.
  • Charles Marsham, 3rd Earl of Romney (born 30 July 1808, died 3 September 1874)
  • Lady Frances Marsham (born 9 November 1809, died 29 December 1901), married Major-General E C Fletcher (died 1877).[7]
  • Lady Mary Marsham (born 15 April 1811, died 23 February 1871), who married the banker Henry Hoare (1807–1866).
  • Lady Charlotte Marsham (born 30 August 1812, died 18 November 1879)

Lady Romney died in September 1812, shortly after the birth of her youngest child.

On 8 February 1832 Lord Romney married secondly the Hon Mary Elizabeth Townshend,[1] daughter of John Townshend, 2nd Viscount Sydney and widow of George James Cholmondeley. They had one son:

  • Hon Robert Marsham-Townshend (born 15 November 1834, died 11 December 1914)

Lord Romney died in March 1845, aged 67, and was succeeded by his only son from his first marriage, Charles.[8] Lady Romney died in December 1847.

References
  1. Lodge Edmund (1844). The peerage of the British empire as at present existing. To which is added the baronetage. pp. 448.
  2. Arthur Collins (1812). Collins's Peerage of England: Contains the earls from the accession of George III. F.C. and J. Rivington, Otridge and Son, J. Nichols and Company. pp. 487.
  3. London Gazette 13 May 1809, p. 680.
  4. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  5. "Charles Marsham, 2nd Earl of Romney". University College London. Retrieved on 20 March 2019.
  6. The Peerage.com, entry for 2nd Earl of Romney
  7. "Obituary". The Times. No. 36652. London. 31 December 1901. p. 9.
  8. A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Henry Colburn. 1860. p. 856.
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