Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, KB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 (8 December 1708 – 2 November 1759), diplomat

Diplomat

A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...

, writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 and satirist, son of John Hanbury, a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 ironmaster, assumed the name of Williams on succeeding to the estate of his godfather Charles Williams, in 1720.

On 1 July 1732 at Saint James, 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...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, he married Lady Frances Coningsby (15 January 1707/1708 - buried at 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,...

, Westminster, London, 31 December 1781), daughter of Thomas Coningsby, 1st Earl Coningsby

Thomas Coningsby, 1st Earl Coningsby

Thomas Coningsby, 1st Earl Coningsby PC was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times from 1679 until 1716 when he was created a peer and sat in the House of Lords-Early life:...

 and Lady Frances Jones. Their daughter Frances married William Capel, 4th Earl of Essex.

He entered the British Parliament

Parliament of Great Britain

The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...

 in 1734 representing the Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Monmouthshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of Parliament of England from 1536 until 1707, of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1801, and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885...

 constituency as a supporter of Robert Walpole

Robert Walpole

Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC , known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain....

, and held the seat until 1747. Sir Charles then won the seat of Leominster

Leominster (UK Parliament constituency)

Leominster was, until 2010, a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.From 1295 to 1868, it was a parliamentary borough which elected two Members of Parliament by the bloc vote system of election. Under the Reform Act 1867 its...

 in 1754 which he held until his death.

In 1739 he supported the establishment of the Foundling Hospital

Foundling Hospital

The Foundling Hospital in London, England was founded in 1741 by the philanthropic sea captain Thomas Coram. It was a children's home established for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children." The word "hospital" was used in a more general sense than it is today, simply...

 and served as one of its founding governors.

From 1747 till 1750, he was the British ambassador in Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

. In 1748 he was in Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 and witnessed a Polish Sejm

Sejm

The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....

, where he met members of the influential Czartoryski

Czartoryski

Czartoryski is the surname of a Polish-Ukrainian-Lithuanian magnate family also known as the Familia. They used the Czartoryski Coat of arms and were the leading noble family of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18th century.-History:The Czartoryski is a family of a Grand Ducal...

 family (August Aleksander Czartoryski

August Aleksander Czartoryski

Prince August Aleksander Czartoryski was a Polish-Lithuanian noble , magnate, and founder of the family fortune.August became Major-General of the Polish Army in 1729, voivode of the Ruthenian Voivodship in 1731, General Starost of Podolia in 1750–1758, and a Knight of Malta...

). When the future King of Poland, Stanisław Poniatowski, was receiving medical treatment in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, 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

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

 1755) (the future Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia). From this moment on began the famous romance between Catherine and the Polish aristocrat.

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

Satire

Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

.

Legacy

He was the inspiration for the character Charles Edaston in the 1913 George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...

 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

Peter O'Toole

Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...

 in 1968.

Sources