Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Frederick Calvert, 6th Lord Baltimore (1731/32—1771)

BORN: On February 6, 1731/32, in England; only surviving legitimate son. RESIDED: in England and on the European continent; never visited Maryland.

FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER: Charles Calvert, 5th Lord Baltimore (1699—1751). GUARDIANS: Arthur Onslow, speaker of the House of Commons; John Sharpe, Esq. (?—l756), brother of Horatio Sharpe (1718—1790); Hon. Cecilius Calvert (1702—1765) ; Hugh Hammersley, Esq. (?—1789), principal secretary of Maryland from 1765 to 1776. MOTHER: Mary Janssen (?—l748). UNCLES: Benedict Leonard Calvert (1700—1732); Edward Henry Calvert (1701—1730). AUNT: Barbara Janssen, who married Thomas Bladen (1698—1780). BROTHER: Charles Calvert (1737—died in infancy). HALF BROTHER: Benedict Calvert (ca. 1724—1788). SISTERS; Frances Dorothy Calvert (1734—1736); Louisa Calvert; and Caroline Calvert, who married Robert Eden (1741—1784).

MARRIED on March 9, 1753, Lady Diana Egerton (1732—1758), daughter of Scroop Egerton, duke of Bridgewater.

CHILDREN. NATURAL SON: by Hester Whalen, of Ireland, Henry Harford (ca. 1759—1834). NATURAL DAUGHTERS: by Hester Whalen, Frances Mary Harford (ca. 1760—1822), who married William Frederick Wyndham (1763—1828); by Elizabeth Dawson, of Lincolnshire, England, twins, Sophia Hales (1765—?) and Elizabeth Hales (1765—?); by Elizabeth Hope, of Munster, Germany, Charlotte Hope (1770-?).

PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: literate. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION; Anglican. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS; Modern historians have noted that he “took little part in the government of his province” and characterized him as “a dissolute, but generous man.” He was the author of Tour in the East in the Years 1763 and 1764 with Remarks on the City of Constantinople and the Turk. Also Select Pieces of Oriental Wit, Poetry and Wisdom , Gaudia Poetica Latina, Anglica, et Gallica Lingua composita, and Caelestes et Inferi. In 1768 he was tried in England on a charge of raping a young woman, but he was acquitted. Against the wishes of his family, he devised the provice of Maryland to Henry Harford (ca. 1759-1834), subject to the payment of £20,000 to be divided between his sisters, Louisa and Caroline. OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: proprietor of Maryland, 1751-1771.

WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. As proprietor Calvert's private income included duties enacted by the provincial legislature for his benefit, such as a 14 pence sterling per ton duty on shipping, plus up to £10,000 sterling per year in land revenues. He owned all unpatented land in Maryland. Calvert held as his personal fiefdom manors in various counties totaling at least 111,500 acres in 1751, plus reserves around each manor. Calvert appointed a commission in 1766 to sell his manors and reserves. About 50,000 acres were sold by 1771 (ca. 25,000 acres from the manors and ca. 25,000 acres of the 45,000-acres Baltimore Reserves). In 1768, ca. 10,700 acres of manor land in Frederick County were given to John Morton Jordan (?-1771), one of the agents for the sale of the proprietary lands. By 1771 the manor and reserve lands, including 121,000 acres on the western frontier of the province, totaled ca. 245,000 acres.

WEALTH AT DEATH. DIED: on September 4, 1771, in Naples, Italy; buried at Epsom, Surrey, England; size of estate unknown.

Source: Edward C. Papenfuse, et al., A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789. Vol. I, A-H. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979.

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