Sir Robert Eden, 1st Baronet & Last Colonial Governor of Maryland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Eden,_1st_Baronet,_of_Maryland

Sir Robert Eden, 1st Baronet, of Maryland, 23rd Proprietary Governor of Maryland (c. 1741 – 2 September 1784) was a British colonial administrator and the last Royal Governor of Maryland.

Eden was the second son of Sir Robert Eden, 3rd Baronet, of West Auckland, and the brother of William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland and Morton Eden, 1st Baron Henley and a relative of North Carolina Governor Charles Eden. He followed Horatio Sharpe as governor in 1769, during the tumultuous years preceding the American Revolution.

Eden was not among those who believed that coercion would force Marylanders into loyalty to the mother country. He returned to Maryland from England shortly after the Peggy Stewart was burned in protest against English taxes on tea, and on December 30 1774 he wrote:

"The spirit of resistance against the Tea Act, or any mode of internal taxation, is as strong and universal here as ever. I firmly believe that they will undergo any hardship sooner than acknowledge a right in the British Parliament in that particular, and will persevere in their non-importation and non-exportation experiments, in spite of every inconvenience that they must consequently be exposed to, and the total loss of their trade."

By 1775 his authority had been totally usurped by the Annapolis Convention. He was created a Baronet, of Maryland in North America, in 1776. Eden married the Hon. Caroline daughter of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, in 1763.

Eden died in September 1784 and was buried in Annapolis, Maryland. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son, Frederick. He also had William Eden and N Eden. Eden was an ancestor of 20th century British Prime Minister Anthony Eden.

ABOUT EDEN BARONETS: The Eden Baronetcy, of West Auckland in the County of Durham, and the Eden Baronetcy, of Maryland in North America, are two titles in the Baronetage of England and Baronetage of Great Britain respectively that have been united under a single holder since 1844.

The family traces its ancestry to Robert de Eden (d. 1413) but probably lived in the Durham area since the twelfth century. They managed to keep their lands despite joining the Revolt of the Northern Earls in 1569 and being Royalists in the Civil War of the 1640s.[1]

The Eden Baronetcy of West Auckland was created in the Baronetage of England on 13 November 1672 for Robert Eden, subsequently Member of Parliament for County Durham. He was the son of Colonel John Eden, a supporter of the Royalist cause in the Civil War. The second and fourth Baronets also represented County Durham in the House of Commons. The fifth Baronet assumed the additional surname of Johnson. On his death in 1844, unmarried, the title was inherited by Sir William Eden, 4th Baronet, of Maryland (see below), who became the sixth Baronet of West Auckland as well. He served as High Sheriff of Durham in 1848. The ninth/seventh Baronet is a Conservative politician. On 3 October 1983, he was created a life peer as Baron Eden of Winton, of Rushyford in the County of Durham, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Windlestone Hall was the family seat from the 17th to the 20th century.

The Eden Baronetcy of Maryland in North America was created in the Baronetage of Great Britain on 19 October 1776 for Robert Eden, the last Governor of Maryland under British rule. He was the second son of the third Baronet of West Auckland. The third Baronet was killed at the Battle of New Orleans in 1814. His cousin, the aforementioned fourth Baronet, succeeded as the sixth Baronet of West Auckland in 1844. See above for further history of the titles.

Eden baronets, of West Auckland (1672)

Sir Robert Eden, 1st Baronet (died 1720)

   Sir John Eden, 2nd Baronet (died 1728)

   Sir Robert Eden, 3rd Baronet (died 1755)

   Sir John Eden, 4th Baronet (1740–1812)

   Sir Robert Johnson-Eden, 5th Baronet (1774–1844)

   Sir William Eden, 6th and 4th Baronet (1803–1873) (had previously succeeded as fourth baronet of Maryland)

   Sir William Eden, 7th and 5th Baronet (1849–1915)

   Sir Timothy Calvert Eden, 8th and 6th Baronet (1893–1963)

   Sir John Benedict Eden, 9th and 7th Baronet (born 1925) (created Baron Eden of Winton in 1983)

The heir apparent is the present holder's son Hon. Robert Frederick Calvert Eden (born 1964). The heir apparent's heir presumptive is his brother Hon. John Edward Morton Eden (born 1966). The heir apparent's heir presumptive's heir apparent is his son Nicholas Cazenac Eden (b. 1997). Eden baronets, of Maryland (1776)

   Sir Robert Eden, 1st Baronet (1741–1784)

   Sir Frederick Morton Eden, 2nd Baronet (died 1809)

   Sir Frederick Eden, 3rd Baronet (died 1814)

   Sir William Eden, 6th and 4th Baronet (1803–1873) (succeeded as 6th Baronet of West Auckland in 1844)

See above for further succession Other notable members of the family

Several other members of the Eden family have also gained distinction:-

* William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, was the third son and Morton Eden, 1st Baron Henley, the fifth son of the third Baronet, of West Auckland (see Baron Auckland and Baron Henley for more information on these branches of the family).

• Robert Eden, third son of the second Baronet of Maryland, was Primus of Scotland and Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness.
• George Morton Eden, fourth son of the second Baronet of Maryland, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army.
• Charles Eden (1808–1878), fifth son of the second Baronet of Maryland, was a vice-admiral in the Royal Navy.
• George Wilfrid Eden (1903–1986), son of Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Eden, eldest son of Reverend John *
• Patrick Eden, son of Thomas Eden (b. 1787), eldest son of Thomas Eden, fourth son of the third Baronet of West Auckland, was a brigadier in the British Army.
• Robert Eden (1836–1907), a grandson of Morton Eden, 1st Baron Henley, fought in the American Civil War with the 37th Wisconsin Volunteers, was editor of the Northwestern newspaper, and became senior engineer with the Edison Light Co.
• Rodney Eden (1853–1940), third son of the aforementioned John Patrick, was Bishop of Wakefield from 1897 to 1928.
• Henry Charles Hamilton Eden CBE MC* (1883–1963), son of Charles Hamilton Eden, fourth son of the aforementioned John Patrick, was a brigadier in the British Army.
• Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was the third son of the seventh Baronet of West Auckland and the fifth Baronet of Maryland (see the Earl of Avon for more information on this branch of the family).

Last Royal and Colonial Governor of Maryland, overthrown by American revolution in 1774-1776

Sir Robert Eden Bart Baronet Birth: Sep. 14, 1741 Durham Durham Unitary Authority County Durham, England Death: Sep. 2, 1784 Annapolis Anne Arundel County Maryland, USA Last Royal Governor of Maryland.

Eden was born in Durham, England. In 1765, he married Caroline Calvert (who Caroline County is named for), daughter of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, and sister of the last Lord Baltimore, Frederick Calvert. Lord Baltimore commissioned Eden as the Royal Governor of the Maryland Colony in 1768.

Robert Eden's first action as governor was to stop the Maryland General Assembly from protesting the Townshend Acts. Eden laid the cornerstone of the Maryland Statehouse on March 28, 1772.

Throughout his administration, Eden was engaged as a diplomatist between the colonist and England. Eden sympathized with the colonist, but was opposed to an armed uprising.

Maryland was the only state that did not kick out its last proprietary governor. Eden was requested by the Maryland Council of Safety to step down as governor. He left Maryland for England on June 26, 1776. Eden's conduct in Maryland and the judicious manner of his leaving were highly commended and he was created a Baronet of Maryland by King George III.

After the war, Eden returned to Maryland to recover some property and died in Annapolis. He was originally buried in the sanctuary of St. Margaret's Westminster.

Eden's remains were relocated to St. Anne's in June of 1926. Saint Anne's Churchyard Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, US

He is the ancestor of Anthony Eden, British Prime Minister (1955-57).

Inscription: Here lyeth buried Y body of Sir Robert Eden Bart, Provincial Governor of Maryland, 1769-1776, who departed his life at Annapolis September 2, 1784 in Y 43rd year of his age. His remains were taken from the sanctuary of the Old Church of St. Margarets Westminster and laid beneath this stone by The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Maryland, June 1926. Burial: Saint Annes Churchyard Annapolis Anne Arundel County Maryland, USA Maintained by: Find A Grave Record added: Apr 15, 2001 Find A Grave Memorial# 21452