Caulfeild, William, second Viscount Charlemont d. 1726, was the second son of William, first viscount [qv.], and Sarah, second daughter of Charles, second viscount Moore of Drogheda. Having taken up arms against James II, he was attainted and his estates sequestrated 7 May 1689, but he was afterwards reinstated in them by William, who made him governor of the fort of Charlemont, and custos rotulorum of Tyrone and Armagh. In the business of the house of peers he took an active part, being in 1692 selected to prepare an address to the lord-lieutenant to recommend the stationing of men-of-war on the coasts, and in 1695 to prepare a bill against the inheritance of protestant estates by papists. He was colonel 36th foot 1701-6. In 1702 he sailed with the fleet to the West Indies. In 1705 he served under the Earl of Peterborough in the Spanish war, and distinguished himself at Barcelona. At the attack on the citadel of Monjuich he was one of the first to march into the fort at the head of his men, and received for his conduct the special thanks of the king of Spain. On 25 Aug. 1705 he was promoted brigadier-general, and on 22 April 1708 major-general. He was also chosen a privy councillor, and in May 1726 he was sworn of the privy council of George I. He died 21 July of the same year, and was buried in the vault of the family in Armagh. By his wife Anne, only daughter of Dr. James Margetson, archbishop of Armagh, he had seven sons and five daughters.

Sources:
     Lodge's Irish Peerage (ed. 1789), iii. 148-150
     Burke's Peerage
     Political State of Great Britain, xxxii. 98
     Luttrell's Narrative.

Contributor: T. F. H. [Thomas Finlayson Henderson]

Published: 1886