Charles Hanbury Williams

This article is about the British diplomat and satirist. For other people called Charles or Charlie Williams, see Charles Williams.
Hanbury Williams in the National Portrait Gallery
Coldbrook House

Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, KB (8 December 1708 – 2 November 1759) was a Welsh diplomat, writer and satirist.

Life

The son of John Hanbury, a Welsh ironmaster, assumed the name of Williams under the terms of a bequest from his godfather [Charles Williams of Caerleon], in 1720.

On 1 July 1732 at Saint James, Westminster, London, he married Lady Frances Coningsby (15 January 1707/1708 – buried at Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London, 31 December 1781), daughter of Thomas Coningsby, 1st Earl Coningsby and Lady Frances Jones. They had two daughters: Frances married William Capel, 4th Earl of Essex and Charlotte Robert Boyle Walsingham, youngest son of the Earl of Shannon.

He entered the British Parliament in 1734 representing the Monmouthshire constituency as a supporter of Robert Walpole, and held the seat until 1747. Sir Charles then won the seat of Leominster in 1754 which he held until his death.

In 1739 he supported the establishment of the Foundling Hospital and served as one of its founding governors.

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 with Sir Charles, who was sent there as ambassador (1750–1751). The Englishman 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 this moment on began the famous romance between Catherine and the Polish aristocrat.

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

His father bought the Coldbrook Park estate near Abergavenny for him from his godfather's bequest where in 1746 he reconstructed the house by adding a 9 bay 2-storey Georgian facade.

He died insane in 1759 and the Coldbrook estate passed to his brother George.[1]

Seven Years' War

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

Sir Charles is recorded as a brilliant wit with a great reputation for lively and biting satire.

Legacy

He 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".[2]

Sources

  1. An Historical Tour in Monmouthshire, Volume 2. p. 279.
  2. Davenport, Richard Alfred (1831). A Dictionary of Biography p.571. Chiswick Press.

 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. Wikisource 

Further reading

External links

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
John Hanbury
Thomas Morgan
Member of Parliament for Monmouthshire
1735–1747
With: Thomas Morgan
Succeeded by
William Morgan
Capel Hanbury
Preceded by
Sir Robert de Cornwall
James Peachey
Member of Parliament for Leominster
1754–1759
With: Richard Gorges
Succeeded by
Richard Gorges
Chase Price
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Hon. Thomas Villiers
British Ambassador to Poland
1747–1755
Succeeded by
Viscount Stormont
British Ambassador to Saxony
1747–1750
Preceded by
Henry Legge
British Ambassador to Prussia
1749–1751
Unknown
Next known title holder:
Andrew Mitchell
Preceded by
The Earl of Hyndford
British Ambassador to Russia
1752–1759
Succeeded by
Robert Murray Keith the Elder
Honorary titles
Preceded by
The Duke of Chandos
Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire
1741–1747
Succeeded by
The Viscount Bateman
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