James Craggs | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, c. 1708 | |
| Secretary at War | |
| In office 1717–1718 | |
| Preceded by | William Pulteney |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount Castlecomer |
| Secretary of State for the Southern Department | |
| In office 1718–1721 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph Addison |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Carteret |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 April 1686 |
| Died | 16 February 1721 (aged 34) |
James Craggs the Younger PC (9 April 1686 –16 February 1721),was an English politician.
Craggs was born at Westminster,the son of James Craggs the Elder. Part of his early life was spent abroad,where he made the acquaintance of George Louis,Elector of Hanover,afterwards King George I of Great Britain. In 1713 he became Member of Parliament for Tregony,in 1717 Secretary at War,and in the following year Secretary of State for the Southern Department. Craggs was implicated in the South Sea Bubble,but not so deeply as his father,whom he predeceased,dying on 16 February 1721,aged 34. Among Craggs's friends were Alexander Pope (who wrote the epitaph on his monument in Westminster Abbey),Joseph Addison and John Gay. [1]
James Craggs left an illegitimate daughter,Harriot Craggs,by the noted dancer and actress Hester Santlow. Harriot was born in probably Febuary 1713 [2] and she was married firstly in 1726 to Richard Eliot,having nine children including Edward Craggs-Eliot,1st Baron Eliot and secondly in 1749 to John Hamilton by whom she had a son.
James Craggs also left two Illegitimate sons,each named James,by different mothers,Reference to these may be found in the Will of his uncle,Michael Richards,who left bequests to Harriot and to each of the sons. One of the sons died at sea in 1740 as a lieutenant in the Royal Navy under the name James Smith,but noted as being the natural son of the late Secretary Craggs.
In 1719 he was one of the original backers of the Royal Academy of Music,establishing a London opera company which commissioned numerous works from Handel,Bononcini and others. [3]
George FridericHandel was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas,oratorios,anthems,concerti grossi,and organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712,where he spent the bulk of his career and became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by composers of the Italian Baroque. In turn,Handel's music forms one of the peaks of the "high baroque" style,bringing Italian opera to its highest development,creating the genres of English oratorio and organ concerto,and introducing a new style into English church music. He is consistently recognized as one of the greatest composers of his age.
John Gay was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for The Beggar's Opera (1728),a ballad opera. The characters,including Captain Macheath and Polly Peachum,became household names.
James Craggs the Elder,of Jermyn Street,Westminster and Charlton,Lewisham,Kent,was an English financier and Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1702 to 1713.
Earl of St Germans,in the County of Cornwall,is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom that is held by the Eliot family. The title takes its name from the village of St Germans,Cornwall,and the family seat is Port Eliot. The earldom has the subsidiary title of Baron Eliot.
Edward Craggs-Eliot,1st Baron Eliot was an English official and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1748 to 1784,when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Eliot.
Barton Booth was one of the most famous dramatic actors of the first part of the 18th century.
Robert Craggs-Nugent,1st Earl Nugent PC was an Anglo-Irish politician,poet and peer. He was tersely described by Richard Glover as a jovial and voluptuous Irishman who had left popery for the Protestant religion,money and widows.
James Brydges,1st Duke of Chandos,was an English landowner and politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1698 until 1714,when he succeeded to the peerage as Baron Chandos,and vacated his seat in the House of Commons to sit in the House of Lords. He was subsequently created Earl of Carnarvon,and then Duke of Chandos in 1719.
James Gibbs was a Scottish architect. Born in Aberdeen,he trained as an architect in Rome,and practised mainly in England. He is an important figure whose work spanned the transition between English Baroque architecture and Georgian architecture heavily influenced by Andrea Palladio. Among his most important works are St Martin-in-the-Fields,the cylindrical,domed Radcliffe Camera at Oxford University,and the Senate House at Cambridge University.
John Theophilus Desaguliers was a French-born British natural philosopher,clergyman,engineer and freemason who was elected to the Royal Society in 1714 as experimental assistant to Isaac Newton. He had studied at Oxford and later popularized Newtonian theories and their practical applications in public lectures. Desaguliers's most important patron was James Brydges,1st Duke of Chandos. As a Freemason,Desaguliers was instrumental in the success of the first Grand Lodge in London in the early 1720s and served as its third Grand Master.
Robert Benson,1st Baron Bingley,was an English Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1702 until 1713 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Bingley and sat in the House of Lords. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1711 to 1713.
Almira,Königin von Castilien is Handel's first opera,composed when he was 19 years old. It was first performed in Hamburg in January 1705.
The Loves of Mars and Venus by John Weaver was arguably the first modern ballet,the first dance work to tell a story through dance,gesture and music alone. Its first performance was at London's Drury Lane Theatre on Saturday 2 March 1717.
Edward James Eliot was an English Member of Parliament.
Hester Santlow was a British ballerina and actress,who has been called "England's first ballerina". She was influential in many spheres of theatrical life.
Events from the year 1690 in England.
Hester Pitt,Countess of Chatham was the wife of William Pitt the Elder,1st Earl of Chatham,who was prime minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768.
John Conduitt,of Cranbury Park,Hampshire,was a British landowner and Whig politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1721 to 1737. He was married to the half-niece of Sir Isaac Newton,whom Conduitt succeeded as Master of the Mint.
Sir Wilfrid Lawson,3rd Baronet of Isell FRS was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1718 to 1737.
Richard Eliot (1694–1748),of St. Giles-in-the-Fields,Middlesex,was a British diplomat,official and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1733 to 1748.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)| International | |
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