Waldegrave family

Waldegrave /ˈwɔːlɡreɪv/ is the name of an English family, said to derive from Walgrave in Northamptonshire, who long held the manor of Smallbridge in Bures St. Mary, Suffolk.

In 1729 he was created Viscount Chewton and Earl Waldegrave, and in 1730 he succeeded Sir Horatio Walpole as ambassador in Paris, filling this post during ten very difficult years.

He was very much in evidence during the critical years 1755–1757, when the king employed him to negotiate in turn with Newcastle, Devonshire, Pitt and Fox about the formation of a ministry.

His younger son, William (1753–1825), entered the British navy in 1766, and after many years of service was third in command at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797.

His wife, Frances, Countess Waldegrave (1821–1879), a daughter of the singer John Braham, was a prominent figure in society.

He was her second husband, and after his death she married George Granville Vernon Harcourt of Nuneham Park, Oxfordshire, and later Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue, 1st Baron Carlingford.