James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave

Who was James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave?

James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave KG PC was a British ambassador.

Waldegrave was the son of the 1st Baron Waldegrave and Henrietta FitzJames, the illegitimate daughter of James II and Arabella Churchill.

Waldegrave inherited his father's title in 1690 and on 20 May 1714, he married Mary Webb, a daughter of Sir John Webb, 3rd Baronet and they had three surviving children:

Hon. James Waldegrave

Hon. John Waldegrave

Lady Henrietta Waldegrave, married firstly, Lord Edward Herbert, a son of the 2nd Marquess of Powis and had issue; married secondly, John Beard.

After the death of his wife, he converted from Roman Catholicism to Anglicanism to take his seat in the House of Lords. He was briefly a Lord of the Bedchamber in 1723 and then from 1730–41 and Ambassador to Austria from 1727–30 and to France from 1730–40. During his ambassadorship to France, he still spent enough time in London to be one of the founding Governors of the new charity there, known as the Foundling Hospital. In 1729, he had been created Earl Waldegrave and on his death in 1741, was succeeded by his eldest son, James.