Item 31 - Birth certificate of Charles William George Bury

The 2nd earl of Charleville was educated at Eton and then began the usual career path for the Irish aristocracy. He served as High Sherriff for King's County in 1825 and then entered into political life in 1826 when he was returned as MP for Carlow Borough. After this constituency was abolished in 1832, he failed to get elected for King's County but was returned for Penryn and Falmouth in Cornwall which he held until 1835. On succeeding to the earldom in 1835, he inherited an estate heavily encumbered with debt and spent just nine years at Charleville Forest before leaving for Berlin in 1844 selling crops, stocks and implements. His wife, Harriet Charlotte Beaujolois, whom he married in Florence in 1821, died in Naples in 1848. The 2nd earl died in 1851.

Harriet Charlotte Beaujolois Cambell, third daughter of Col John Campbell and Lady Charlotte Campbell, married the 2nd earl of Charleville in Florence in 1826. She enjoyed writing and her travel diary 'A Journey to Florence in 1817' which was written when she was a teenager, was published in 1951 following its discovery in a London bookshop. Her mother, Lady Charlotte Susan Maria Campbell (later Lady Charlotte Bury after a second marriage), was also a writer. Harriet had five children with Charles William, two of whom would succeed to the earldom: her eldest son, Charles William George and her third eldest son, Alfred, who succeeded as the 5th earl of Charleville when his nephew died in 1874. She died in Naples in 1848, predeceasing her husband by three years.

The 3rd earl of Charleville inherited the bad debts of previous generations. Prior to his succession, he was a lieutenant of 43rd foot and married Arabella Case in 1850. They had five children, but on returning to Charleville in 1851, numerous tragedies befell the family. Arabella died in 1857 from scarletina at the age of 35 years, and two years later, in 1859, the earl died at the age of 37. Their five young children, all minors and now wards of Chancery, were left in the care of their uncle, the Hon Alfred Bury and his wife, at Charleville Castle. In 1861, in a tragic accident, their seven year old daughter Lady Harriet Bury, fell to her death while attempting to slide down the banisters in the castle.