Chetwynd-Talbot, Charles, 2nd Earl Talbot (1777 -1849)

Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 2nd Earl Talbot was the eldest son of Hon. John Talbot of Ingestre Hall in Staffordshire, and his wife, Charlotte, Countess Talbot, a daughter of Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire. When Talbot's father was created Earl Talbot in 1784, Chetwynd-Talbot assumed the courtesy title of Viscount Ingestre. In 1793 he inherited his father's earldom and the Ingestre estate. In 1794 he entered Christ Church Oxford, receiving his MA in 1797. After leaving Oxford, he joined the staff of the British embassy in Russia under Lord Whitworth. In 1803 he organised a volunteer force in Staffordshire to withstand an invasion by Napoleon, and in 1812, was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire, an office he held until his death. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1813. In 1817, Talbot was also appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In recognition of his services to agriculture in Ireland, he was awarded the Freedom of Drogheda. He was appointed a Knight of St Patrick in 1821, a title he held until 1844, when on Robert Peel’s recommendation, he resigned as a Knight of St Patrick in place of being appointed a Knight of the Garter. He married Frances Thomasine (d. 1819), daughter of Charles Lambart, in 1800. They had eleven surviving children. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Henry, who later also inherited the earldom of Shrewsbury from his distant cousin.