Everything about John Carteret 2nd Earl Granville totally explained
John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, 7th Seigneur of Sark,
PC (
22 April 1690–
22 January 1763), commonly known by his earlier title as
Lord Carteret, was an
English statesman and
Lord President of the Council from 1751 to 1763.
Family
The family of Carteret was settled in the
Channel Islands, and was of
Norman descent. John was the son of
George Carteret, 1st Baron Carteret (
1667 -
1695), by his marriage with Grace Granville (
September 3 1654 -
October 18 1744), daughter of Sir
John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath (
August 29 1628 - August
1701), and great grandson of the Elizabethan admiral Sir
Richard Grenville (
1541 -
August 31 1591), famous for his death in the
Revenge at the
Battle of Flores.
John was
Seigneur of Sark from
1715 to
1720 when he sold the fief. He held (in absentia) the office of
Bailiff of Jersey from 1715.
John Carteret was educated at
Westminster School, and at
Christ Church, Oxford.
Jonathan Swift says that "with a singularity scarce to be justified he carried away more Greek, Latin and philosophy than properly became a person of his rank". Throughout life Carteret not only showed a keen love of the classics, but a taste for, and a knowledge of, modern languages and literatures. He was almost the only Englishman of his time who knew German (which allowed him to talk with George I, who spoke no English). Harte, the author of the
Life of Gustavus Adolphus, acknowledged the aid which Carteret had given him.
Marriage
On
October 17 1710 Carteret married at
Longleat Lady Frances Worsley, granddaughter of the first
Viscount Weymouth. He took his seat in the
Lords on
May 25 1711. Though his family, on both sides, had been devoted to the
House of Stuart, Carteret was a steady adherent of the
Hanoverian dynasty. He was a friend of the
Whig leaders
Stanhope and
Sunderland, took a share in defeating the
Jacobite conspiracy of
Bolingbroke on the death of
Queen Anne, and supported the passing of the
Septennial Act.
Diplomat
Carteret's interests were however in foreign, and not in domestic policy. His serious work in public life began with his appointment, early in
1719, as
Ambassador to
Sweden. During this and the following year he was employed in saving Sweden from the attacks of
Peter the Great, and in arranging the pacification of the north. His efforts were finally successful.
During this period of diplomatic work he acquired an exceptional knowledge of the affairs of Europe, and in particular of
Germany, and displayed great tact and temper in dealing with the
Swedish senate, with
Queen Ulrica, with King
Frederick IV of Denmark and King
Frederick William I of Prussia. But he wasn't qualified to hold his own in the intrigues of Court and Parliament in
London. Named
Secretary of State for the Southern Department on his return home, he soon became helplessly in conflict with the intrigues of
Townshend and Sir
Robert Walpole.
Rivalry with Walpole
To Walpole, who looked upon every able colleague or subordinate, as an enemy to be removed, Carteret was exceptionally odious. His capacity to speak German with the
King would alone have made Sir Robert detest him. When, therefore, the violent agitation in
Ireland against
Wood's halfpence made it necessary to replace the
Duke of Grafton as
Lord Lieutenant, Carteret was sent to
Dublin. He landed in Dublin on
October 23 1724, and remained there till
1730. In the first months of his tenure of office he'd to deal with the furious opposition to Wood's halfpence, and to counteract the effect of Swift's
Drapier's Letters. The Lord Lieutenant had a strong personal liking for Swift, who was also a friend of Lady Carteret's family. It is highly doubtful whether Carteret could have reconciled his duty to the crown with his private friendships, if government had persisted in endeavouring to force the detested coinage on the Irish people. Wood's patent was however withdrawn, and Ireland settled down. Carteret was a profuse and popular Lord Lieutenant who pleased both the English interest and the native Irish. He was at all times addicted to lavish hospitality, and according to the testimony of contemporaries was too fond of burgundy.
Americas
Carteret had inherited a one-eighth share in the
Province of Carolina through his great-grandfather Sir
George Carteret. In
1727 and
1728, John learned that the other inheritants of the original shares were planning to sell them back to the crown. Carteret declined to join them. After the other surrendered their claims in
1729, Carteret in
1730 agreed to give up any participation in government in order to keep ownership of his share. This share was later defined as a 60-mile wide strip of land in
North Carolina adjoining the
Virginia boundary, and became known as the
Granville District. The lands of the Granville District remained in the Carteret family until the death of Carteret's son Robert in 1776. Following the
American Revolution, Robert's heirs were compensated in part for the loss of the lands.
Queen Caroline
When Carteret returned to
London in
1730, Walpole was firmly established as master of the
House of Commons, and as the trusted Minister of King
George II. Walpole also had the full confidence of
Queen Caroline, whom he prejudiced against Carteret. Till the fall of Walpole in
1742, Carteret could take no share in public affairs except as a leader of opposition of the Lords. His brilliant parts were somewhat obscured by his rather erratic conduct, and a certain contempt, partly aristocratic and partly intellectual, for commonplace men and ways. He endeavoured to please Queen Caroline, who loved literature, and he's the credit, on good grounds, of having paid the expenses of the first handsome edition of
Don Quixote to please her. He also involved himself in the establishment of the
Foundling Hospital, a charity championed by the Queen, for which he became a founding Governor . But he reluctantly, and most unwisely, allowed himself to be entangled in the scandalous family quarrel between
Frederick, Prince of Wales and his parents. Queen Caroline was provoked into classing Carteret and Bolingbroke, as "the two most worthless men of parts in the country".
Carteret took the popular side in the outcry against Walpole for not making war on Spain. When the
War of the Austrian Succession approached, his sympathies were entirely with
Maria Theresa--mainly on the ground that the fall of the house of
Austria would dangerously increase the power of
France, even if she gained no accession of territory. These views made him welcome to George II, who gladly accepted him as Secretary of State in
1742. In
1743 he accompanied the King to Germany, and was present at the
Battle of Dettingen on
June 27 1743. He held the secretary-ship till November
1744.
Carteret succeeded in promoting an agreement between Maria Theresa and
Frederick II of Prussia. He understood the relations of the European states, and the interests of
Great Britain among them. But the defects which had rendered him unable to baffle the intrigues of Walpole made him equally unable to contend with the Pelhams. His support of the King's policy was denounced as subservience to
Hanover.
Pitt called him "an execrable, a sole minister who had renounced the British nation". A few years later Pitt adopted an identical policy, and professed that whatever he knew he'd learnt from Carteret.
Earl of Granville
On
October 18 1744 Carteret became Earl Granville on the death of his mother. His first wife died in June
1743 at
Aschaffenburg, and in April
1744 he married Lady Sophia Fermor, daughter of Lord Pomfret--a fashionable beauty and "reigning toast" of London society, who was younger than his daughters. "The nuptials of our great Quixote and the fair Sophia" and Granville's ostentatious performance of the part of lover were ridiculed by
Horace Walpole.
The Countess Granville died on
October 7 1745, leaving one daughter Sophia, who married
William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, later 1st Marquess of Lansdowne. This marriage may have done something to increase Granville's reputation for eccentricity. In February
1746 he allowed himself to be entrapped by the intrigues of the Pelhams into accepting the secretaryship, but resigned in forty-eight hours. In June
1751 he became President of the Council, and was still liked and trusted by the King, but his share in government didn't go beyond giving advice, and endeavouring to forward ministerial arrangements. In
1756 he was asked by
Newcastle to become Prime Minister as the alternative to Pitt, but Granville, who perfectly understood why the offer was made, declined and supported Pitt. When in October
1761 Pitt, who had information of the signing of the "
Family Compact" wished to declare war on
Spain, and declared his intention to resign unless his advice was accepted, Granville replied that "the opinion of the majority (of the Cabinet) must decide". He spoke in complimentary terms of Pitt, but resisted his claim to be considered as a "sole minister" or, in the modern phrase, a "Prime Minister".
Whether he used the words attributed to him in the
Annual Register for 1761 is more than doubtful, but the minutes of council show that they express his meaning.
Death
Granville remained in office as President till his death. His last act was to listen while on his death-bed to the reading of the preliminaries of the
Treaty of Paris (1763). He was so weak that the Under-Secretary,
Robert Wood, author of an essay on
The Original Genius of Homer, would have postponed the business, but Granville said that it "could not prolong his life to neglect his duty", and quoted the speech of
Sarpedon from
Iliad xii. 322-328, repeating the last word (iouee) "with a calm and determined resignation". He died in his house in Arlington Street, London, on
January 22 1763.
The title of Earl Granville descended to his son Robert, who died without issue in
1776, when the Earldom of this creation became extinct.
Further Information
Get more info on 'John Carteret 2nd Earl Granville'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://john_carteret__2nd_earl_granville.totallyexplained.com">John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
