1831.J 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



459 



Majesty, George IV., wben Prince of 

 Wales. He warmly espoused the cause 

 of his Royal Highness in 1803, and 

 moved for the appointment of a Com- 

 mittee to inquire into the extent of his 

 embarrassments, that he might be en- 

 abled to resume the splendour and dig- 

 nity suitable to his high station. 



When the Prince cast off the party 

 usually designated the friends of his 

 youth, and determined to avail himself 

 of the services of his roj'al father's tried 

 councillors, Mr. Calcraft remained steady 

 in his opposition. 



During the brief but memorable ad- 

 ministration of " All the Talents," he 

 sat some time at the Board of Ordnance, 

 where he was considered to have rendered 

 himself complete master of the details 

 of the British army. 



In the debate of 1815, on the bill for 

 regulating the importation of corn, Mr. 

 Calcraft moved that importation should 

 be permitted when the price exceeded 

 72s. per quarter ; but the motion was 

 lost, and the imjjortation permitted only 

 M'hen the price should exceed £4. 



In the same year he endeavoured to 

 procure a reduction of the army and gar- 

 risons, but was ec^ually unsuccessful as 

 on the corn question. 



It was, we believe, in the general elec- 

 tion of 1820, that Mr. Calcraft lost his 

 seat for Rochester ; since which, he con- 

 tinued to sit for his own borough of 

 Wareham. Though not possessed of 

 brilliant or commanding talents, he was 

 a useful supporter of the party to which 

 he had attached himself. With other 

 members of that party he accepted office 

 under the Duke of Wellington ; with 

 whose political views he appeared to co- 

 incide until the great debate upon the 

 reform bill, at the close of the last par- 

 liament, when, to the astonishment of 

 thousands, he voted with the majority 

 of 301 in favour of the measure. This 

 vote of !Mr. Calcraft's has since called 

 forth remarks which it is not our wish to 

 repeat. 



We now approach the distressing cir- 

 cumstances of his deatli, which occurred 

 on the atlernoon of Sunday, Sejjtember 

 11, at his house in Whitehall Place. He 



had been in a declining state of health, 

 low and dejected in spirits, for several 

 months. Having unfortimately been 

 left unattended, he destroyed himself, in 

 his dressing closet, by dividing the prin- 

 cipal arteries of his throat with a razor. 

 On the return of ]\Iiss Arabella Calcraft 

 from church, he was found extended on 

 the floor, with his face downwards, quite 

 dead, and with the iatal instrument of 

 his destruction firmly grasped in his 

 right hand. 



On the coroner's inquest held upon 

 the body on the ]\Ionday evening follow- 

 ing, one of the jurors — from what motive 

 did not appear— put the following ques- 

 tion to Dr. Phillips, one of the medical 

 gentlemen in attendance on the family : — 

 " Did he (the deceased) ever feel dis- 

 appointed at not being elevated to the 

 peerage ?" To which Dr. P. replied, — 

 " I believe he never had any expect- 

 ation of being raised to the peerage. He 

 had latterly fancied that he was con- 

 tinually watched by a man sitting on the 

 top of a house. He was a thorough be- 

 liever in religion." The verdict ascribed 

 his death to an act of temporary mental 

 derangement. 



]Mr. Calcraft had married, many years 

 since, a lad}' of the name of Hailes, who 

 was possessed of considerable property. 

 By her(who died in 1817) he had a family 

 of five children : John Hailes Calcraft, 

 Esq. ; Captain Granby Calcraft ; Lady 

 Burke (wife of Sir John Burke, Bart. 

 M. P. for the county of Galway) ; and 

 two other daughters, unmarried. At the 

 time of his decease, ]Mr. and Lady Caro- 

 line Calcraft were at Kenij)stone Hall, 

 the family seat, in Dorsetshire ; Miss 

 Calcraft was on a visit in Kent ; and her 

 sister, ]Miss Arabella, was the only mem- 

 ber of the family residing with her 

 father. The remains of the deceased 

 were removed on the 17th of September, 

 from Whitehall Place, for interment in 

 the chancel vault in St. James's church, 

 where two of his children are buried. 

 The funeral was stricily private ; only 

 two mourning coaches liillowed, in which 

 were IVIr. J. H. Calcraft, Captain Cal- 

 craft, and Sir John Burke. 



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