Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery
Encyclopedia
Order of the Thistle
The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The current version of the Order was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland who asserted that he was reviving an earlier Order...
PC FRS (28 July 1674 – 28 August 1731) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
nobleman, statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
and patron of the sciences.
The second son of Roger Boyle, 2nd Earl of Orrery
Roger Boyle, 2nd Earl of Orrery
Roger Boyle, 2nd Earl of Orrery , styled Lord Broghill between 1660 and 1679, was an Irish peer and politician....
and his wife Lady Mary Sackville (1647–1710), daughter of Richard Sackville, 5th Earl of Dorset
Richard Sackville, 5th Earl of Dorset
Richard Sackville, 5th Earl of Dorset was an English peer and politician.He was born at Dorset House, the second of three children of Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset...
. He was born at Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
and educated at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, and soon distinguished himself by his learning and abilities. Like the first earl
Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery
Roger Boyle redirects here. For others of this name, see Roger Boyle Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery was a British soldier, statesman and dramatist. He was the third surviving son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork and Richard's second wife, Catherine Fenton. He was created Baron of Broghill on...
, he was an author, soldier and statesman. He translated Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
's life of Lysander
Lysander
Lysander was a Spartan general who commanded the Spartan fleet in the Hellespont which defeated the Athenians at Aegospotami in 405 BC...
, and published an edition of the epistles of Phalaris
Phalaris
Phalaris was the tyrant of Acragas in Sicily, from approximately 570 to 554 BC.-History:He was entrusted with the building of the temple of Zeus Atabyrius in the citadel, and took advantage of his position to make himself despot. Under his rule Agrigentum seems to have attained considerable...
, which engaged him in the famous controversy with Bentley
Richard Bentley
Richard Bentley was an English classical scholar, critic, and theologian. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge....
. He was a member of the Irish Parliament and sat for Charleville
Charleville (Parliament of Ireland constituency)
Charleville was a constituency in County Cork represented in the Irish House of Commons to 1800.-History:The town it represented was named after Charles II. It was enfranchised in 1673, a sovereign, 12 burgesses and freemen. It belonged to the Earl of Orrery, a branch of the Boyle family...
between 1695 and 1699. He was three times member for the town of Huntingdon
Huntingdon (UK Parliament constituency)
Huntingdon is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
; and on the death of his brother, Lionel, 3rd earl, in 1703, he succeeded to the title.
He entered the army, and in 1709 was raised to the rank of major-general, and sworn one of Her Majesty's Privy Council. He was awarded the Order of the Thistle
Order of the Thistle
The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The current version of the Order was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland who asserted that he was reviving an earlier Order...
and appointed queen's envoy to the states of Brabant
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...
and Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
; and having discharged this trust with ability, he was created an English peer, as Baron Boyle of Marston, in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
. He inherited the estate in 1714.
George Graham (clockmaker)
George Graham was an English clockmaker, inventor, and geophysicist, and a Fellow of the Royal Society.He was born to George Graham in Kirklinton, Cumberland. A Friend like his mentor Thomas Tompion, Graham left Cumberland in 1688 for London to work with Tompion...
created the first mechanical solar system model
Solar system model
Solar System models, especially mechanical models, called orreries, that illustrate the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons in the Solar System have been built for centuries. While they often showed relative sizes, these models were usually not built to scale...
that could demonstrate proportional motion of the planets around the Sun. The device was named the orrery
Orrery
An orrery is a mechanical device that illustrates the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons in the Solar System in a heliocentric model. Though the Greeks had working planetaria, the first orrery that was a planetarium of the modern era was produced in 1704, and one was presented...
in the Earl's honour.
Charles Boyle received several additional honours in the reign of George I; but having had the misfortune to fall under the suspicion of the government as a Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
he was committed to the Tower
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
in 1722, where he remained six months, and was then admitted to bail. On a subsequent inquiry it was found impossible to incriminate him, and he was discharged.
Boyle wrote a comedy, As you find it, printed in 1703 and later published together with the plays of the first earl.
In 1728, he was listed as one of the subscribers to the Cyclopaedia
Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences
Cyclopaedia: or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences was an encyclopedia published by Ephraim Chambers in London in 1728, and reprinted in numerous editions in the eighteenth century...
of Ephraim Chambers
Ephraim Chambers
Ephraim Chambers was an English writer and encyclopaedist, who is primarily known for producing the Cyclopaedia, or a Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences.-Early life:...
.
Boyle died at his house in Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
in 1731 and was buried in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
. He bequeathed his personal library and collection of scientific instruments to Christ Church Library
Christ Church Library
Christ Church Library is a Georgian building which forms the south side of Peckwater Quadrangle in Christ Church, Oxford, England. It houses the college's modern lending library and early printed books on two floors....
; the instruments are now on display in the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
The Museum of the History of Science, located in Broad Street, Oxford, is home to an unrivalled collection of scientific instruments from medieval times to the 17th century. Its collection of 18th and 19th-century instruments is also substantial...
.
His son John, the 5th Earl of Orrery
John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork
John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork and 5th Earl of Orrery, FRS was a writer and a friend of Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson....
, succeeded to the earldom of Cork
Earl of Cork
Earl of the County of Cork, usually shortened to Earl of Cork, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1620 for the Anglo-Irish politician Richard Boyle, 1st Baron Boyle...
on the failure of the elder branch of the Boyle family, as earl of Cork and Orrery.