Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore - Later Life

Later Life

Calvert's political difficulties did not end with the loss of Maryland. In 1694 he was named in connection with the Titus Oates plot, though he successfully evaded arrest. In 1696 his fortunes improved; he was made brigadier general, and then in 1704 rose to the rank of major-general.

Calvert's second wife Jane died in around 1693, and Calvert married a third time, to Mary Bankes, some time between 1701 and 1710. His fourth and final marriage was to Margaret Charleton, daughter of Thomas Charleton, in 1712.

Calvert may also have had an illegitimate son, Charles Calvert Lazenby, born in England in 1688, who would grow up to have a career in the army and later become Governor of Maryland in his own right. Captain Calvert's parents have never been positively identified but it has long been assumed that his father was the 3rd Baron Baltimore. His mother's identity is also unknown but, judging by the Calvert family papers, she appears to have been the Countess Henrietta, also known as "Mother Calvert", who died circa 1728.

Calvert's residence in England was his family's estate at Woodcote Park in Surrey. In around 1712, Woodcote was described by Celia Fiennes:

"Lord Baltimores in Woodcut Green encompassed with a wall at the entrance, a breast wall with pallisadoes, large courts one within the other, and a back way to the stables where there is a pretty horse pond; the house is old but low, though large run over much ground; as I drove by the side saw broad chimneys on the end and at due distance on the side on both ends the sides of a court which terminated in a building on which there is a lead with railes and barristers."