Earl Waldegrave is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1729 for James Waldegrave, 2nd Baron Waldegrave. The Waldegrave family descends from Sir Richard Waldegrave, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1381 to 1382. His son and namesake, Sir Richard Waldegrave, was a soldier and fought in the Hundred Years' War. His descendant Sir Edward Waldegrave was a politician and courtier. A prominent Catholic, he held office under Que...
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Earl Waldegrave is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1729 for James Waldegrave, 2nd Baron Waldegrave. The Waldegrave family descends from Sir Richard Waldegrave, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1381 to 1382. His son and namesake, Sir Richard Waldegrave, was a soldier and fought in the Hundred Years' War. His descendant Sir Edward Waldegrave was a politician and courtier. A prominent Catholic, he held office under Queen Mary, who granted him the Chewton estate in Somerset. However, Waldegrave was imprisoned in the Tower of London after the accession of Queen Elizabeth, where he died in 1561. His grandson Edward Waldegrave fought as a Royalist in the Civil War despite his old age. In 1643 he was created a Baronet, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent, in the Baronetage of England.
His great-grandson, the fourth Baronet (the title having descended from father to son), married Henrietta FitzJames, illegitimate daughter of King James II and his mistress...
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