James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave

James Waldegrave

Sir James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave KG PC (1684 – 11 April 1741) was a British ambassador.

Waldegrave was the son of the 1st Baron Waldegrave and Henrietta FitzJames, the illegitimate daughter of James II and Arabella Churchill.

Waldegrave inherited his father's title in 1690 and on 20 May 1714, he married Mary Webb (who died in childbirth in 1719), a daughter of Sir John Webb, 3rd Baronet and they had three surviving children:

• Hon. James Waldegrave (1715–1763)
• Hon. John Waldegrave (1718–1784)
• Lady Henrietta Waldegrave (1717–1753), married firstly, Lord Edward Herbert, a son of the 2nd Marquess of Powis and had issue; married secondly, John Beard (a singer at Covent Garden).

After the death of his wife, he converted from Roman Catholicism (the religion he was brought up with) to Anglicanism in order to take his seat in the House of Lords. He was briefly a Lord of the Bedchamber in 1723 and then from 1730–41 and Ambassador to Austria from 1727–30 and to France from 1730–40. During his ambassadorship to France, he still spent enough time in London to be one of the founding Governors of the new charity there, known as the Foundling Hospital (created in 1739). In 1729, he had been created Earl Waldegrave and on his death in 1741, was succeeded by his eldest son, James.

References

• "Waldegrave, James (1685-1741)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

Ancestry

Family of James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave

16. Sir Edward Waldegrave, 1st Baronet 8. Sir Henry Waldegrave, 2nd Baronet 4. Sir Charles Waldegrave, 3rd Baronet 2. Henry Waldegrave, 1st Baron Waldegrave 10. Sir Francis Englefield, 2nd Baronet Englefield 5. Helen Englefield 1. James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave 24. James I of England 12. Charles I of England 25. Anne of Denmark 6. James II of England 26. Henry IV of France 13. Henrietta Maria of France 27. Marie de' Medici 3. Henrietta FitzJames 28. John Churchill 14. Winston Churchill 29. Sarah Winston 7. Arabella Churchill 30. John Drake 15. Elizabeth Drake 31. Eleanor Boteler