Benedict Leonard Calvert

Like many young aristocrats in 18th-century England, Calvert was sent on a Grand Tour of Italy, travelling there from 1724 to 1725. During this time he studied Italian architecture and antiquities, collecting many items which were sent back to the family home at Woodcote Park in Surrey.Yentsch, p.74

File:Governor Charles Calvert.jpg, replaced as Governor of Maryland by Benedict Calvert in 1727]]

In 1727 the young Benedict Calvert was sent to Maryland by his older brother Lord Baltimore, with instructions to take over the governorship of the colony, replacing his cousin Captain Charles Calvert.[https://books.google.com/books?id=PVvGQgXX-3QC&dq=charles+calvert+emigrated+to+maryland+without+extensive&pg=PA61 Yentsch, Anne E., p.61, A Chesapeake Family and their Slaves: a Study in Historical Archaeology, Cambridge University Press (1994)] Retrieved Jan 2010 The handover of power from cousin to cousin was not entirely smooth. Captain Calvert insisted on retaining fifty percent of the three-pence tobacco duty which was his due under legislation passed in 1727. Benedict was not impressed, and his younger brother Cecilius wrote to him that family opinion in England was appalled at Captain Calvert's behaviour, and "thinks him mad". Lord Baltimore himself wrote that Benedict should receive the full benefit of the tax.

Benedict Calvert was replaced as Governor by Samuel Ogle in 1731. On arrival in Maryland, Ogle wrote to Lord Baltimore that his brother was "much worse than I imagined, and which I believe has not been mended very much by the help of Physik, of which he takes more than anyone I ever knew in my life".Yentsch, p.89

Calvert was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in March, 1731.{{cite web| url= http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27calvert%27%29| title= Library and Archive Catalogue| publisher= Royal Society| access-date= 21 December 2010}}{{Dead link|date=June 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Calvert had tuberculosis and died of consumption on board the family ship, The Charles on 1 June 1732, while returning to his home in England. He was buried at sea.[https://books.google.com/books?id=jJX672KW8TMC&dq=benedict+calvert+consumption&pg=PA43 Yentsch, Anne E., p.93, A Chesapeake Family and their Slaves: a Study in Historical Archaeology, Cambridge University Press (1994)] Retrieved January 2010 He left an estate worth around ten thousand pounds sterling, a large sum at the time, to his younger brother Cecilius Calvert.

File:Elizabeth Calvert, by John Wollaston (1754).jpg]]

Calvert had no children of his own, but he was godfather to Elizabeth Calvert, daughter of his cousin Captain Charles Calvert. In his will, which he drew up before leaving Maryland, he left her a slave boy named Osmyn.

The town of Leonardtown, Maryland is named in his honor.{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}}

• Baron Baltimore
• List of colonial governors of Maryland
• Province of Maryland

{{Reflist|2}}

• [https://books.google.com/books?id=PVvGQgXX-3QC&dq=charles+calvert+emigrated+to+maryland+without+extensive&pg=PA61 Yentsch, Anne E, A Chesapeake Family and their Slaves: a Study in Historical Archaeology, Cambridge University Press (1994)] Retrieved January 2010
• [http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mrmarsha&id=I34603 RootsWeb]

• [https://www.lib.umd.edu/sites/default/files/imported/calvertfamilytree.pdf Calvert Family Tree] Retrieved 31 July 2024
• [http://www.sonofthesouth.net/revolutionary-war/british/lord-baltimore.htm Calvert family at www.sonofthesouth.net] Retrieved 30 January 2010

{{Governors of Maryland}}

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Category:1732 deaths

Category:1700 births

Category:Colonial governors of Maryland

Benedict Leonard Calvert

Category:Younger sons of barons

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society