James Alexander, 3rd Earl of Caledon

Who was James Alexander, 3rd Earl of Caledon?

James Du Pre Alexander, 3rd Earl of Caledon styled Viscount Alexander from birth until 1839, was a soldier and politician.

Born in London, was the son of Du Pre Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon and Lady Catherine Yorke. He was educated from 1824 to 1828 at Eton College and then at Christ Church, Oxford. He was appointed High Sheriff of Armagh in 1836 and was Member of Parliament for Tyrone between 1837 and 1839. He succeeded to the title of Earl of Caledon on the death of his father on 8 April 1839. He was then elected to the House of Lords as a Representative Peer for Ireland in 1841. He gained the rank of Captain in the service of the Coldstream Guards and was Colonel of the Tyrone Militia.

He married Lady Jane Frederica Harriot Mary Grimston, daughter of James Walter Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam and Lady Charlotte Jenkinson, on 4 September 1845 at St. Michael's, St. Albans, Hertfordshire, and had issue:

James Alexander, 4th Earl of Caledon

Hon. Walter Philip Alexander, a Lieutenant Colonel in the 2nd Dragoons who served in the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1900 and married Margaret Katherine Grimston, daughter of Rev. the Hon. Francis Grimston, son of James Walter Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam, and had issue.